


Hound of Hell

by Robin_Song95



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-02-05 16:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1825138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robin_Song95/pseuds/Robin_Song95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel rescued Dean from Hell, but he had to have had help right? Meet Cerberus, Former Guardian to the Gates of Hell and new member of Team Free Will, even if she doesn't know it yet. Battling the uphill battle of the Apocalypse is going to be interesting with a demon hating Hell-Hound around. Eventual Pairing: Gabriel/OC (Cerberus) AU from Lazarus Rising.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Front Hall

Cerberus watched as the damned souls filed through the entrance that lay just beside her, and went into hell. The growling slobbering Hellhounds along with a few low level demons standing along the path leading to the gate discouraged any attempts to escape the fate that lay before them. Though, she supposed that her large bedraggled appearance also helped with that.

She shifted slightly and winced as it caused pain to shoot up her leg from the deep cut on her thigh. Chains clanked and her head leaned momentarily closer to the line of souls as she stretched, startling a balding man. She instinctively read the story written in the swirling colors of his soul, and then promptly growled and snapped at the filthy pedophile. The aura around his soul turned black with fear and she shook herself out with pride revealing cuts and burns previously hidden by thick black fur. The souls in the line moved around her warily now and she huffed to herself in satisfaction and slowly lay down on the sharp rocky floor. The floor may have dug into the wounds on her legs and stomach, but her hurting paws thanked her for the brief respite.

She lay like that for a countless number of year’s hell-time until a higher level demon finally stuck its ugly head out the door and forced her back to her feet with the sting of a whip and scathing tongue. So, she stood until she could stand no longer, only to lay down once again until they forced her to her feet, only to sink back down to the floor when she could stand no longer. An endless cycle that she knew would last forever as the heavy metallic chains and collars etched with binding sigils kept her next to the entrance. An endless line of damned souls continued to trail past her, some trembling in fear, others walking quietly and somberly to the fiery domain that lay beyond her door.

Then one day, something a little different happened. A man was dragged down by the Hellhounds, screaming as the teeth bit and tore at his flesh, fighting them the entire way down. What was unique though was the way he shook them off defiantly once they hit the cavern floor and went to stand at the end of the line. Cerberus sniffed cautiously at the sulfurous cavern air, there was something unique about this soul, it was tinged with fear like all the rest, but it also seemed to glow. The glow swirled throughout the entirety of the soul, softly twirling and lighting up the area around the man. The man himself, wore a resigned but peaceful expression on his face as if he had accepted his fate. It appeared from what she could see of the soul at this distance that the man had done nothing to deserve his fate down under.

A cursory read of the shimmering soul showed her just that, Dean Winchester, hunter by trade, but nothing would point to him belonging here. The people that died as a side-effect of his trade heaping onto the sins of those who had started the problem, not he who had solved it. He had liked his women, and his alcohol but nothing to the put him on the level of the greedy damaged souls around him. Cerberus stood with great effort and the sound of clanking chains, causing the souls near to her to take their eyes away from the spectacle of the new soul for a moment and skitter away from her in terror. Once on her feet she craned her neck to get a better look, ah there it was at last, swirling a dark poisonous green around where his heart would have been. A deal with a demon done in desperation to save a dead brother.

The line moved forward and the soul moved with it, Hellhounds flanked him on either side as the line moved quickly forward. The message of his arrival must have traveled faster than hellfire, no pun intended, because higher level demons than those that usually stood guard with her were pouring out into the cavern, watching with greedy eyes as the hunter and entourage approached. She growled in annoyance as she was pushed to the edge of her chain by the crowd, the metal pulling on her already damaged limbs and muscles. Irritated, she snapped and bit at the demons, angry barks leaving her throat in quick bursts.

They let her bark for once, and she understood why a moment later when Alistair stepped out of the entrance. She shut her jaw with a snap, stopping mid-bark and cowered down to the cave floor quickly. Her tail tucked underneath her, she tried to blend in with the cavern floor to hide as he stepped nearer to her, a disapproving look on his face.  
"Is that any way to treat your betters Mutt?" he asked. She knew better than to answer and kept her mouth shut, trying to curl into the rock even farther. She had crossed the chief torturer of hell once, never would she do it again. The cuts and bruises on her body would be nothing compared to the excruciating pain and damage that the demon could inflict on her.

At this point the line had moved far enough forward that the hunters’ soul was even with her position by the gate. Alistair was grinning now, which anyone who had ever been in his tender care knew meant that good things were not to follow. It wasn't just Alistair that was grinning though, all the demons in attendance looked like heaven had fallen and the defeated angels were the ones they were welcoming into the torture pits of hell. Cerberus shuddered slightly, happy demons never meant good for anyone. What was it about this man that caused the demons to smile?

The group approached the waiting audience and Cerberus flinched as Alistair reached down to comb a hand through her fur.

"Do you see that Mutt? It's the beginning of the end." he murmured, fingers fisting in and pulling her fur tightly, drawing a pained whine from a throat already bruised by the heavy collar encircling it.

The hunters’ soul reached the gate, face carefully blank, seemingly impassive to the demons around him. Cerberus's pitying whine drew his gaze, the look of sympathy in her eyes as she contemplated his fate, drew a cocky smile onto his lips.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright." he told her, head held high in defiance. The demon behind him growled in smug irritation,

"Shut up, meat, you'll change your tune once Alistair gets a hold of you!" With that parting comment the hunter was unceremoniously shoved through the gate entrance to the torturing grounds. Alistair followed him with a confident anticipatory grin and a confident swagger. Lucifer may be the one who ruled Hell through Lillith, but on the torture racks, Alistair was King. One by one all the higher level, and even the lower level demons followed eager to see the show. In the end it was just Cerberus and the lesser hounds left to watch the unending line of the damned.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	2. A Bid for Freedom

Cerberus looked up wearily as the hall seemed to fall silent, the hell hounds themselves bred and trained to fear nothing but their masters’ whip were cowering against the red rock walls, tails between their legs. Light flickered casting shadows on the hall floor, and she shivered, fear crawling down her spine, something big was coming, and even hell itself did not want to welcome it.

Blinding light filled the cavern and the entire room shook, causing dissent in the line as souls scattered terrified. The hounds at least had enough presence of mind to stop any from escaping through the now ruined entrance. The light dimmed slightly and Cerberus realized that it wasn't light at all, an Angel stood at the entrance to hell and it had been its' Grace that had so lit up the cavern. Everyone froze for a minute and just stared at the celestial being that now stood in front of them. 

Cerberus spared a thought to the lack of demons that had come running. Did they really trust her that much? To assume she would sound warning in time? Fools. Standing against an Angel, even a low ranking one such as the being in front of her was suicide. And she was certainly not suicidal. It appeared the hell hounds weren't either because only quiet whimpers escaped their jaws as the angel moved farther into the expansive cavern. As the angel moved closer to the door, and therefore to Cerberus as its guardian, he looked around the hall with an emotionless almost bored expression on his face, but his eyes didn't miss a detail. 

One brave soul with a look of awe and hope in his eyes came forward, Cerberus winced slightly as the soul moved forward. A greedy and penny pinching man, his whole life. Had died with a fortune and hadn't left anyone a single penny, instead he had spent it on a huge crypt for him and his worldly possessions. Much like the Egyptian pyramids of old. Cerberus really hoped the building would be looted for every last dust bunny. If he thought he would receive mercy from an angel, particularly one that had bothered to come all the way down to hell on a mission, he was sorely mistaken.

She watched in amusement as the angel drew nearer, the soul trailing hopefully behind. He finally seemed to find the courage to speak and she cringed as he opened his mouth hoping the foolishness of one soul wouldn't cause them all to be smited.  
"Are you here to free us then?" He asked. The angel paused a moment to look at the man, 

"You? No" he said curtly before moving forward once again, leaving a sea of dejected faces on the souls behind him. He drew close to the rocky shelf that she sat on and she scrambled to her paws, whimpering slightly as the movement caused wounds to pull and in places reopen. He looked up at her at the sound, face twisting into a concerned frown, 

"Are you well?" He asked quietly, feet shifting as if they knew that he needed to keep moving. His heart and conscious though, and maybe those ingrained angel morals, had given him pause. She kept quiet though, he was clearly here for a purpose, she had survived this treatment for centuries, and she would continue to do so. He stayed where he was though, eyes looking her over noting every visible cut and bruise, frown deepening. She shifted slightly as he continued to stare.

"Why are you here?" She asked when the silence had gone on too long. He looked at her with pride in his expression,

"My name is Castiel. I am an angel of The Lord sent here to raise the soul of one Dean Winchester." Cerberus blinked remembering the day nearly 40 years ago when the man had walked through her gate, 

"Good. Of all the souls I have seen pass through here, he certainly did not deserve to be here, he was exceptionally brave to walk willingly into Alistairs’ domain." The Angels face drained, 

"The soul of Dean Winchester has been with Alistair?" Cerberus nodded, 

"I must go at once!" He strode quickly to the gate and was almost through when he paused to look back, "Your help was most appreciated Guardian." Cerberus shrugged at him, 

"Thank you for taking the time to talk with me like I am actually an intelligent being, and good luck with finding the soul you seek." Castiel nodded at her and seemed to hesitate before extending a hand out towards her, grace stretching out to touch and destroy the chains holding her.  
She shook herself in shock marveling at the lack of weight and clanking chains. She looked up eyes shining with gratitude only to find that he was already gone. She stretched, enjoying her new range of motion and glanced at the gate worriedly, one angel against all of hell? The angel had freed her, and she was just going to waltz out and leave him to face all of hell? Growling lowly at herself and her willingness to help, she sent a chilling glare to the hell hounds 

"Guard the entrance, let no one through, in or out until I return." They looked at her unsurely but they whined their agreement anyway. Sometimes being the biggest was beneficial. Steeling herself she turned towards the door and walked forward through the gate for the first time and into hell itself.


	3. Hell-Fire

Cerberus stepped through the door and a world of complete and utter desolation met her, ruined buildings, long stalactites hanging from the ceiling cast shadows and blend in with the ruined buildings. Smoke curls and forms a thick haze as you try to look up, fire burns everywhere, screams echo up and down the cavern and demons are everywhere amongst the wreckage. 

For the most part the demons ignore her, all running towards the center of the ruined city where she can see flashes of bright light and hear the screams of the defending demons, a breeze blows the smells of battle towards her, and vaporized demon is not something she will ever want to smell again. She watches in awe as the angel pulls a blade out of seemingly nowhere, demons are now being slaughtered left and right as they try to overtake the angelic intruder. Heaven sure did train it’s soldiers well, though the demons had fallen out of practice with the fighting styles of angels since Lucifer had been locked away.

The angel, Castiel, turned to deal with a particularly nasty group of demons that had converged on his left side and two demons appeared on his right, Cerberus doesn’t stop to think she lunges forward and sinks her teeth into the nearest of the two demons. Its’ partner pauses to look at her in shock, But the shock quickly vanishes to be replaced with an evil smirk. 

“Hey boys looks like Cerberus here decided to break her contract. Wonder what she’d look like inside out?” He called drawing the attention of the demons that were fighting Castiel as well as the ones who were watching and waiting for an opportunity to jump into the fray. 

“You lot broke it first, I’m just returning the favor!” she snarled and lunged toward him leaving the first demon broken and mangled behind her. He pushed her off easily now that she had lost the element of surprise and she flew backwards, demons scattering out of the way as she comes towards them before eventually crashing into a stalagmite. 

She sits for a second, winded with the feeling that she has now cracked at least one of her ribs and it hurts to breathe. She doesn’t get a break though as the demons that had scattered now regrouped and formed a menacing circle around her. She snarled and let out a war cry before charging into the middle of the group clawing and biting as she went. Flesh tore and pained cries filled the air as she fought, it seemed though that for every demon she brought down three more filled in the gaps in the circle. Eventually though with aching ribs and bleeding from multiple scratches and one more serious wound on her left shoulder from a sharp piece of metal one demon had picked up, she finds herself back to back with the angel. He spares her a glance as he spins the blade in an arc taking out two demons with one blow. As her teeth latch into the forearm of another demon he asks,

“Why did you follow me?” She spits the nasty tasting blood like fluid out and ducks a swing from a club,  
“You may be an angel, but even an archangel like Michael would have a problem taking on all of hell. Do you realize how many demons inhabit this place? How many tortured souls join the ranks every year? Hundreds if not thousands!” She pauses to take out a demon attempting to sneak up on them from the left, 

“What the hell did you do, see the mission to take a soul out of hell and sign the top of the volunteer list? Because to me that sounds like a damn stupid thing to do.” He glares down at her as the mass of demons seems to ebb for a second,  
“I was given the task by the higher ranking angels, who was I to refuse? I am a soldier, I do not suppose one such as yourself could understand such loyalty.” She growled angrily at him as he went to go down a side street,

“Well the sure didn’t give you a map did they!? Alistairs’ domain is this way featherbrain, And I’m a dog we are the epitome of loyalty, man’s best friend and all that.” She glances around, suspicious at the lack of demons now attacking them, great they must be planning an ambush, probably closer to the entrance to Alistairs torture chambers. Castiel looked down at her as they walked, 

“You are no dog, you are a creature from Greek and Roman mythology. You inherited the title and persona of Cerberus from your predecessor nearly 600 Earth years ago. You are also the one who is contract bound to guard the gates of hell, or at least you were.” She growls at him,

“They broke my contract, well not my contract per se my predecessor made it and I had to fulfill it. Every ten years in hell I would get a break and get to go up to the surface for one hell year. A good deal for them, but they still decided it wasn’t enough and chained me up sometime around the First World War up there. Or maybe it was the second? There were a lot of guys in uniform passing through the gates at the time. I haven’t been up to the surface since.”

He watched her for a moment as they walked, stoic mask still in place but with something akin to pity in his eyes.   
“Stop for a second,” She looked up at him confused,

“You are injured, and while I cannot heal everything I can do a little, I freed you, I do not need your death on my conscious because you were too injured to fight. Unfortunately this will scar, I do not have enough energy to spare to erase those.” He explained reaching down and angelic grace covered her for the second time that day, healing Grace spilling from his hands. She sighed as the pain gradually eased out of the wounds and the skin and her ribs knit themselves back together. She nods her gratitude,

“We are nearly there, they likely have guessed who you are coming for. Expect an ambush at the entrance to the torture chambers, and I have a feeling getting out will be harder even than getting in.” He tilts his head in acknowledgment and they continue down the street.

Cerberus fights the feeling to bang her head against a wall, hard, when they come up to the top of a rise and see the streets lined with demons in all directions surrounding Alistairs’ domain. Castiel looked down at her,

“You yourself said that this would not be easy. Did you doubt your own words?” Cerberus growled up at him in annoyance, the fur along her back bristling,

“No, however there is this lovely thing called hope, such as hoping that demons don’t actually have intelligence and will not have orchestrated an ambush right before we achieve our goal.” Castiel frowned at this,

“No one said that you were required to help me.” He snapped. Cerberus snapped at him teeth clashing together menacingly,

“I know that featherbrain, Nevertheless I am helping you, now are we going to stand here all day or are we going to free that soul?” The angels’ emotionless mask reappeared, but Cerberus thought she saw a flicker of annoyed amusement flicker across the blue of his eyes. 

“After you then.” He said making a broad sweeping movement towards the army in front of them. Head and tail held high Cerberus walked forward the angel not two steps behind as the demons watched in sadistic anticipation. This was certainly going to be one of the more interesting days in her time down under, and unfortunately she didn’t mean Australia.


	4. Lost Soul, Found.

Interesting indeed. A wall of angry demons was what had slammed into them, all clawing and screaming to get a chance at taking a piece out of the angel or the traitor of a gate guardian. They fought for what seemed like years, demon after demon falling under tooth and claw or cut of the sword. 

Finally the battlefield around them produced no new foes and they were able to enter the racks that held the damned souls. Cerberus winced at the terrified bloodcurdling screams of pain filtered out into the hallway. After a walk through the whole building they had not seen the soul of the Winchester brother and were staring at the dead end that faced them in confusion. A quiet chuckle had them spinning around and coming face to face with Alistair himself. 

“In all my years I don’t think I’ve seen a more unlikely duo. An angel and a creature of hell working side by side to battle for a broken soul? Is this what the world is coming too?” he asked. Cerberus pressed closer to Castiel as the higher level demon moved towards them, power twisting and winding out of him to brush across their senses like poisonous vines, Alistair looked down at her with a look of regret,

“Ah yes, the Mutt. We had such fine times together did we not? Alas it appears those times have come to an end, at least for today. You’ve been given clearance to leave with the soul you came for, that is if you can stomach what he has become.” Alistair told them, a nasty grin flitting across his face at the last part. Castiel shifted slightly, sword still at the ready,

“Why? Why make us fight our way in here and then just let us walk out? What sense is there in that?” He asked cautiously. Alistair shrugged,

“I know who I take orders from pretty boy, and those orders were that if you made it in here alive then you could take the soul of Dean Winchester back out with you. As I know that you likely will not leave without the pathetic mongrel at your side then she also is free to go, though all bets are off once you reach the surface Mutt.” He said sneering at her still nervous form next to the angel. He turned around and beckoned them to follow,

“Come I will take you to him.” Cerberus glanced up at Castiel for reassurance, and found none but they followed Alistair anyway towards a room in the middle of the building with a woman’s screams emanating from within. Castiels brow furrowed in confusion, but Cerberus just whined in worry. Surely the soul that they had fought so hard to retrieve had not already broken? Surely Dean Winchester had not taken the first step towards becoming a demon like those that they had slaughtered to get to him? A year was a long time to last in hell, but others had lasted longer, besides other than his innocence what was so special about this man that Heaven and Hell both wanted him back topside? 

Alistair opened the door and Cerberus hung her head in defeat at the sight that met them. The soul of Dean Winchester turned around at their entrance and he placed the knife he had been using to cut designs into the arm of the woman on the rack, back onto a table that held various tools of torture. She padded quietly into the room, completely defeated. They had come this far and he had already broken. He would be a haunted man on the surface, being tortured in hell was one thing, but torturing others? Even a hunter like him had some form of morals and she doubted they would leave him guilt free about the acts he had committed on those on the racks.

Castiel seemed frozen in the doorway, not believing what he was seeing. Why was he sent after this soul? What good could he still do for those on Earth when he had been broken in Hell? Castiel could fix his physical body and dull the memories of hell somewhat, but he knew that this would break most humans psyche. That he could not fix. Nevertheless Castiel had a job to do, He grabbed the mans’ shoulder and tugged him towards the door. Cerberus followed quietly, not liking the situation one bit. Alistair had said they got a free pass out of hell. But when had such things ever come easily?

The screams of the tortured souls followed them back out of the building and onto the street. Another wall of demons stood before them, the wish to cause pain to the interlopers clear in their eyes. When the group approached the beginning of the line, eyes sharp and ready to fight, the wall parted showing a clear path through the crowd.   
Hate filled eyes watched them the entire silent walk out of the city and back to the entrance. The soul stayed quiet too, looking around with confused and slightly ashamed eyes when he glanced at either of them. None of the confidence that had come with him into hell seemed to remain, a broken man indeed, Cerberus thought. The silence was not broken until they had passed through the entrance.

Those in the line of souls looked up at their entrance as did the hellhounds guarding them. Cerberus spared a glance to the pile of chains and worn rock where she had lain for centuries. She could still hardly believe that she was free. She never had to come back here. 

Castiel paused in his walk and looked at the hunters soul who stood there quietly eyes downcast. He sighed and began to speak,

“I will fix your physical body and take you back to the surface. I will also dull the memories of your time here, you will still have them but will not be plagued by them constantly. Six months have passed Earth time. I am sure your brother has missed you greatly,” The soul nodded looking up at him with wide eyes, confidence slowly seemed to trickle back into him as he realized he was finally free. Cerberus could relate to the feeling. Castiel nodded at him with an air of finality,

“Let us leave.” With that he grabbed the soul, wings extending as he raised them both towards the entrance, he glanced down at Cerberus,

“I assume you can find your way from here?” At Cerberus’s nod he inclined his head in farewell,

“I wish you luck then Guardian.” Cerberus grinned up at him tongue lolling out, tail wagging slightly,

“You too featherbrain. See you topside.” Castiel shot her a slightly annoyed look at the nickname before ascending towards the surface carrying the soul with him. Once she made sure they had cleared the entrance Cerberus gathered herself, Leg muscles tightening before they released and she jumped passing through the large hole Castiel had left earlier with ease.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	5. Culture Shock

Cerberus froze in shock as she landed quite literally into a world of noise and sound, and people. Loud wailing and screeching noises assaulted her ears and she turned to see a great black beast stopped in front of her, eyes glowing, growling at her, it’s human passenger looking quiet angry himself and the wailing noise came again. 

“Move that dog out of the road!” He yelled and she started quickly dashed to the side of the black pavement, dodging more of the growling beasts as she went. She paused once she reached an apparently safe section that had people walking, some of which who were casting concerned glances her way. She stood quietly in a shadowed corner and tried to calm her racing heart. Once she had a bit more perspective of the beasts she realized they weren’t beasts at all just a much advanced and faster form of the automobiles she had encountered on her last brief visit to the surface. 

People seemed to dress differently too, none of the nicer clothing, dresses and suits that she had seen much of before. Women were also wearing more of some kind of blue pants and the sleeves on shirts seemed to be cut what used to be scandalously short. She had known fashion had changed but to see so much of it, and to see so much color all at once was rather startling after so long spent down below in the dark. 

Buildings were tall enough to remind her of the stories of giants that her mother had always told her of as a child. They had been a few tall buildings the last time she was here but these made those seem like ants. She had wondered how much the world would have changed since she last saw it, and the answer was apparently quite a lot. At least the language for the most part hadn’t changed though she couldn’t quite make out what some people meant by some of the words, didn’t cool mean cold? It certainly was not cold out, in fact it was almost unbearably hot. A pair of colorful sandals stopping in front of her and a hand tentatively held in front of her nose had her thoughts shattering into a million pieces and she warily pressed herself up against the wall behind her, a confused whine slipping out. 

“Elizabeth! You cannot just go around introducing yourself to random animals! What if she was inclined to bite or had rabies? Or both?!” A harried voice asked and an older woman’s hand drew the younger’s back from her face. Cerberus relaxed a bit, so the girl had meant to be friendly.   
She looked up at the duo. The older woman was dressed very nicely, hair pulled up into a complicated hair style. But her face contained mostly smile lines. The girl seemed to be in her early teens and wore a very short version of the same blue pants that she had seen on those around her as well as a beautiful purple shirt. She too didn’t seem threatening and Cerberus extended her senses beyond what she could physically see to glimpse their souls. She relaxed completely at seeing the kindness and willingness to help there in swirling whites, purples, and oranges. She perked up her ears as the younger female, Elizabeth, began to speak.

“But Mom, look at her! She’s so thin, and it looks like someone hasn’t been to kind to her, you can see the scars even through her fur. Maybe she just needs someone to be nice to her? Can we keep her please? Even just for a night? I know daddy has service in the morning but surely she would be fine in the house by herself?! Please Mom?” The girl pleaded and Cerberus was a bit amused to see she didn’t seem to breathe until she had said her piece. The mother looked down at Cerberus in concern.  
Cerberus wagged her tail and smiled, tongue lolling out in the heat as she panted, trying to look friendly. The mother sighed and threw up her hands slightly,  
“Fine, but first we are taking her to the vet, I won’t bring her inside and have her giving us all fleas. Then we will see what your father says.” Cerberus flattened her ears back slightly at the mention of fleas. As if she would ever have such mangy little pests crawling through her fur and biting her! Elizabeth smiled brightly,

“Come on then Shadow,” she paused and then nodded to herself, “Yup, Shadow is what I am going to call you. A quick trip to the vet and when you get home you can have all the hot dogs and pizza you want!” Cerberus wasn’t quite sure what hot dogs and pizza were but the mother seemed quite against the idea.

“Hot dogs and Pizza? Certainly not, dog food will suit her just fine Elizabeth.” She said as the three of them started to walk down the street towards an area where a lot of the automobiles were parked. 

Once they’d arrived at a particularly large blue automobile a back door was opened and Elizabeth tried to motion her to jump inside. Cerberus looked up nervously, actually ride in one of these death traps? They had to be kidding right? Right?! Elizabeth motioned again slightly impatient and Cerberus balked again before looking at the area around her and knowing she would have no idea how to survive in this new advanced world without some help. With a slight grumble she leapt up into the car her feet scrabbling for purchase on the slippery seats. Once inside she sequestered herself down in a corner on the floor figuring that was safest, even if it meant she couldn’t see out the window. 

Elizabeth smiled in at her from the still open backdoor,   
“Don’t worry Shadow, it’s a quick trip to the vet, and then an even shorter one home.”

Cerberus looked at her skeptically as she shut the door and the automobile started with a rumble that vibrated up through her paws and made her clench her eyes shut for a moment in fear. Why did this world have to be so complicated? 

Cerberus certainly did not enjoy the ride to the vet, the constant movement, speeding up, slowing down, and a couple of screeching halts. She did not like this mode of travel at all. Eventually they stopped for a longer period of time and the engine was turned off. Elizabeth and her mother climbed out and the backdoor was soon opened and Elizabeth appeared in the opening holding a collar and a leash. 

“Come here Shadow, I promise this won’t hurt a bit, but we can’t take you into the vet without a leash and collar, it’s just not allowed.” She said holding the collar out towards Cerberus. Cerberus glared at the contraption, it reminded her too much of the chains that had held her captive in hell. Still it was made of fabric that should be easy enough to chew through especially considering her naturally stronger senses, body, and thus teeth. She flickered her vision again and looked once more at the souls of the two in front of her, nothing had changed, the two women didn’t mean her any harm. With that in mind she moved warily forward and Elizabeth slipped the collar around her neck.

The leash was quickly clipped to it and Cerberus clambered down out of the car and allowed herself to be lead along the side of a building until they came upon a glass door through which they entered into a room that contained many animals, and smelled of many more. First sniff brought the scents of at least 10 different cats and 30 different dogs to her nose, as well as various small rodents and even one goat. Most of them though had already passed through and the only other animals in the waiting room were a tired looking tabby cat and energetic Saint Bernard puppy. 

Both looked up with their owners at the arrival of their small group. The cat looked at her in vague interest as if knowing that she was looking at something beyond the ordinary dog. Even the Saint Bernard Puppy despite its clear urge to run up and greet this new strange canine held back nervously not quite sure of what to think of her. Cerberus rolled her eyes and making sure she only spoke in the common tongue of animals tried to reassure them,

“I don’t bite if that’s what you’re wondering. I’ve even been told I’m quite friendly.” The cat just nodded and laid her head back down and watched the proceedings with interest. The puppy ran up to her barking out a greeting tail wagging furiously, which earned a protest from her owner,

“I am so sorry, she’s really friendly I promise!” the man said trying desperately to contain the wriggling excited pup. Elizabeth just laughed,

“That’s okay I’m pretty sure Shadow here is friendly too. How old is your puppy?” She asked and while the two humans started their conversation, Cerberus and the puppy became acquainted. After a liberal round of sniffing and licking in greeting that involved much wagging of tails the pup finally asked,

“So what are you?” Cerberus looked down at it and chuckled and answered,

“I am Cerberus, guardian to the gates of hell, older than you could probably imagine too.” The puppy tilted its head in confusion,

“So are you a dog then?” Cerberus huffed in amusement,

“As much of a dog as you are just a bit bigger, more durable, intelligent, no offense, and I do also have a human form.” The pup stared at her for a long while thinking,

“Then why are you being lead around on a leash like one of us? Especially if you have a human form?” Cerberus sighed, she wasn’t quite sure of the answer to this one herself but,

“I have been trapped in hell for a long time and the world has changed greatly in the time I have been gone, I need a few days to get used to everything and what better way to learn than to live with humans for that time?” The pup nodded slightly,

“Makes sense to me.” He turned slightly as his owner called to him and tugged on his leash,  
“Looks like it’s time for me to go, I just hope I don’t have to get shots this time, those things hurt!” He said cheerfully as he walked away. Cerberus noticed that Elizabeth’s mother had sat down in a chair next to her and was filling out some kind of paperwork. After much debate back and forth between mother and daughter as to what breed she was, how old she was, etc. Which Cerberus found very amusing considering some of their guesses (she was pretty sure there was no Poodle in her family history), they were taken back into a small room with a shiny table that Elizabeth had her hop up onto. 

Cerberus turned her head as the doctor entered, quickly reading her soul, relaxing when she found much the same she had with Elizabeth and her mother with the addition of an earthy green that came from a lifetime of caring for others. Though the poor woman had an interesting childhood and past that had lead her to where she had been today. Nothing that had left to bad of a stain on her soul though there were some grey areas that didn’t shine quite as bright.

Cerberus shook herself as she realized that the three humans had been talking and the doctor had slipped gloves on and was now examining her. The woman’s aura got sadder and sadder as she took in her condition, Cerberus supposed she really must look a fright, she hadn’t needed food in hell, but it had still taken its toll, leaving her fairly thin. The scars adorning her from the battle to get out and her time spent at the gate probably couldn’t look to good either. As the vet relayed her results to the family Elizabeth started crying and both of their aura’s dimmed in grief. Cerberus stared at them all in wonder, they were saddened by what happened to her? It appeared not all of humanity was as bad as those who had entered the gate, she had known this, but she was grateful for the proof to be standing around her in that small examination room.

She was given an almost clean bill of health with orders to feed her plenty and be careful around some of the newer wounds in case they were still sore, they left after the mother had filled out the rest of the paperwork and paid the bill. Cerberus happily crunched on a bacon flavored treat as they left with the receptionist calling a goodbye to Sherry after them. Shadow paused in her chewing, Sherry? The mother returned the friendly goodbye and Cerberus would have blushed had she been human, she hadn’t even bothered to learn the lady’s name! So it was Sherry and Elizabeth who had taken her in, and she still had yet to meet this mysterious father, who she had gathered worked at the local church. As they climbed in the car for the journey home, Cerberus watched the other cars driving by and wondered what had happened to Dean Winchester and to Castiel. She hoped they had gotten out okay and back to Earth with no problems. She also hoped that she would be able to sleep when they reached the house, she was tired, she hadn’t had a chance to rest since Castiel had first appeared in hell. Life was finally looking up after almost 60,000 years in hell, 500 earth years. Hopefully things would stay that way, but when had she ever been that lucky?


	6. Home is Where the Heart Is

Cerberus lifted her head, shaking off the slight disorientation from the light doze she had fallen into during the car trip. Once you got used to it the motion of the automobile wasn’t too bad. That might also have just been her exhaustion talking though. She squinted slightly as Elizabeth opened the door and bright afternoon sunlight filled the darker interior of the backseat. 

“Come on Shadow, We’re home now.” She explained looking at Cerberus expectantly.

Cerberus heaved a mental sigh before standing and jumping down to the ground. She shook herself slightly to rid herself of the last clinging vestiges of sleep. She paused once on the sidewalk despite the insistent pulling on her leash,

“Shadow?” Elizabeth questioned as she tugged lightly trying to get Cerberus to move. Sherry came around to their side of the car and smiled slightly at the scene,

“Just give her a second Liz, she’s got to be a bit confused by the new place, let her sit for a second and take it all in.” She said. Cerberus was just glad that someone understood as she sniffed the air, a combination of scents coming to her from the surrounding neighborhood. Nothing threatening but the chicken cooking down the block smelled absolutely divine. The house they were parked in front of looked much like the others on the street, two stories with a light blue outer paint and a bright red door and shutters. The perfectly green and cut lawn and sharply hedged bushes made Cerberus blink slightly, someone had too much time on their hands. She took a step forward and Elizabeth smiled happily and they followed her mother inside.

The beautiful red door opened to a simple but elegant entrance hall with family pictures hanging proudly next to a mirror. Cerberus took note of the three people in the photos as the two women took off their shoes. Sherry and Elizabeth smiled happily out at the onlooker accompanied by a middle aged man who Cerberus supposed must be the father. She flinched back slightly as a hand came down near her face without warning. Elizabeth paused in her attempt to unclip the leash in bewilderment before understanding dawned. 

“Oh Shadow, I’m not going to hurt you sweetie. I just thought you might like to explore a bit on your own, Mom and I have to get dinner ready.” She reached forward much more slowly this time and Cerberus watched her hand slightly wary, the leash unclipped easily and Cerberus shook herself in relief noting the slight clanking of the new dog tags on her collar as she did so. Sherry smiled before she and her daughter exited the hall through a doorway that lead to what must have been the kitchen judging by the multitude of food smells drifting lazily out of it. 

Cerberus once she was sure that she was truly on her own to explore set off in a different direction quickly finding a set of stairs and her nails clicked on the hard wood slightly as she climbed them. On the second level she found little of interest. Three bedrooms, two that smelled like they were regularly occupied by the members of the family and one that smelled slightly of an elderly woman that hadn’t been there in months. A bathroom connected off of the master bedroom and another stood between the other two rooms. All connected by the same hardwood that had been on the stairs. More pictures hung here but they were too high for Cerberus to see clearly, perhaps later she could change and look at them carefully. She would have to wait on that though until the family was asleep. She didn’t think they would appreciate the dog they had brought home changing into a human in front of them was exactly good for their mental health. She did take note of the wooden cross hanging above the picture though which only confirmed her assumptions as to their beliefs. 

Finding nothing else of interest she wandered back down the stairs, picking up her feet slightly so her nails wouldn’t click on the wood as badly this time. She found herself back in the hallway that stood just off the entrance hall. It lead to a rather comfy looking living room with a couch and two nice squishy looking armchairs. Some form of large black screen hung on the wall and Cerberus circled it warily along with the box things that lay on either side of it. One thing she didn’t quite like about this century so far was that she didn’t know what all the technology was. Even things that she had known of on her last visit had changed drastically between then and now. A door that was slightly ajar led into a small office area that smelled heavily of the man and she quickly exited not wanting to snoop to far without having met the man first. 

Another door connected the living room to a dining room with a table that could seat six and a nice cabinet with one glass wall that contained some very nice china dishes. The final door lead to the kitchen and Cerberus’s tail wagged excitedly as she smelled the food cooking inside, vegetables, chicken, rice, and some sort of strange sauce she hadn’t come across before. Elizabeth giggled at seeing her slightly glazed over eyes as she stared up at the stove. She pointed down at her drawing her mothers’ attention,

“Looks like Shadow is going to want some stir-fry Mom.” She said as she stirred the beautiful mixture around the pan. Sherry sighed,

“I’d say no, but I know you’ll only feed her under the table when my back is turned. She can have a small bowl of the rice and chicken once we’ve finished eating.” Cerberus sighed slightly at the announcement, she really wouldn’t mind some of the vegetables either, she wasn’t truly a dog after all. She was human once and she really did love onions like the ones in the pan now. Sherry moved around the counter carrying two bowls which she set in the corner, Cerberus walked over curiously, feet slipping slightly on the shiny tile. 

She stared down at the bowls in dismay. The one container holding water made her happy enough, but the other did not smell appetizing at all. Hard nuggets were sitting in a pile inside and she pitied dogs everywhere. They weren’t even given the good parts of the animal, and since when was meat crushed up like this with other junk and cooked? It looked and smelled foul. She looked imploringly up at Sherry and the woman gave her an unimpressed look before returning to preparing dinner. Cerberus had a feeling she would be very happy for that bowl of chicken and rice.

Cerberus’s ears perked up as she heard the front door open and close and she growled slightly in warning. Scrambling to her feet on the slick tile she ran through the door to the hall from the spot in the opposite corner where she had been observing Elizabeth set the table in the dining room. She barged through it and paused before the man standing there growling. He wouldn’t come another step into the house until she knew he was safe. Sherry followed her quickly with a concerned look on her face that relaxed once she saw the man in the doorway. She grabbed at Cerberus’s collar to make sure she wouldn’t try to attack, not that Cerberus had any such plans.

“Dave. You’re just in time for dinner,” At his wide eyed look down at where Cerberus still stood growling she explained, “This is Shadow, Liz found her earlier and we decided to bring her home, she’s got a clean bill of health from the vet, and really she’s quite pleasant. You probably just surprised her is all.”

The man, Dave moved around her carefully, though they both relaxed a bit as Cerberus finally got a good look at his aura. She stopped growling and relaxed enough for Sherry to let go of her collar. He was no threat, slightly strict when it came to the rules of the house but otherwise a good man. Cerberus knew that the family likely had issues just like any other but at heart, or rather soul, they were all good people. She was once again thankful for whatever divine intervention had lead her to such a good family after the horrors she had seen in Hell. 

Dave relaxed when she did and cautiously held out a hand for her to smell, smiling slightly when she sniffed at it and then licked the hand in welcome before turning back to go into the kitchen. Staring hopefully up at the dishes that were ready to go into the dining room. Elizabeth chuckled and set a bowl in front of her containing the promised chicken and rice. Cerberus ate happily, back to the couple that still stood in the doorway. Thus missing the expectant look Sherry sent to Dave and his reluctant sigh,

“I suppose she can stay.” He murmured with a slight smile as he watched his daughter interact with the dog. Cerberus grinned into the food bowl as she neatly ate the last bits of chicken and gathered the last bit of sauce and rice with her tongue. She would be sad when she had to leave here, being a dog wasn’t so bad, but she also wasn’t just a dog and she knew that the demons would be looking for her. 

Her worry though had been replaced by contentment as she curled up at the foot of Elizabeths bed at the end of the night. For the first time in centuries happy dreams kept her through the night instead of nightmares.  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	7. When Truth Becomes Fiction

Cerberus sat up abruptly as Elizabeth practically danced through the door a book in hand, throwing multiple “Thank-You’s “ over her shoulder to her mother who hadn’t even made it out of the car yet. It had been nearly a week since her arrival on Earth and she’d admit that she’d become a bit complacent in her role as the family pet. Which saddened her, because it meant that she had to be moving on soon, actually she really should have left by now. But she found herself attached to this family, she enjoyed their company, even though they thought her no more than a dog. 

In a weeks’ time she had completely won over the hearts of the family, though they might change their minds if they knew that she shifted into human form every few nights just to get used to the different form again after so long as a canine. She had also completely exasperated Sherry and Dave with her refusal to eat the slop they called dog food. Elizabeth though took pity on her and fed her real food when they came down for their now daily midnight snack. If the parents were suspicious about the food disappearing from the refrigerator they made no comment about the matter. Due to their late night chats, Elizabeth and Cerberus had grown very close and so she happily followed the young teen up the stairs and into the girls’ room. 

Elizabeth turned around with a ridiculously wide happy grin on her face,  
“I got it Shadow!” She held out the book and Cerberus practically went cross-eyed trying to read the title because it was so close to her face. She rolled her eyes and deemed it insignificant once she’d read the series title, “Supernatural” didn’t sound very important or interesting to her. Didn’t even really tell you what the books were about. Whoever this author was, he wasn’t very creative. Elizabeth seemed happy enough to gush over the book though,

“It’s about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who hunt monsters like demons, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and such.” Cerberus had been mid leap onto the bed but faltered when she heard the name Winchester, landing awkwardly half on the bed and half off. Elizabeth snorted slightly trying not to laugh,

“Sounds interesting doesn’t it? This is the last book that is rumored to be published for a while and from what I’ve read online it’s the one where Dean’s demon deal finally reaches its end and he goes to hell.” Cerberus by now had overcome her shock and was listening carefully as Elizabeth explained while reading the back cover of the book.

“But I can’t let Dad know that I read the series either, he’s cool about most things, but he would flip if he knew I was reading something so opposed to what he preaches on Sunday mornings.” Elizabeth said as her fingers brushed across Cerberus’s fur. Cerberus wasn’t surprised by this either, if those books detailed the lives of two hunters, especially hunters like the Winchester family, then they definitely would not sit well with Dave. He was a pastor at a small church, and for some reason Cerberus couldn’t decipher, was wary of all the teen books coming out about paranormal romances, Cerberus didn’t think he’d deal with a book about the existence of all the creatures that go bump in the night really existing, very well at all. Dave was a good man but he had his faults as did all humans, a slight paranoia/fear of all things supernatural was one of them, he went with the philosophy if you ignored things like ghosts, vampires, and werewolves, that they didn’t exist. 

Cerberus mentally snorted slightly in amusement, if only he knew of who was living underneath his roof with him and his family. She turned her attention back to Elizabeth who was now reading the book happily using Cerberus as a pillow. These books though were slightly worrying. It really couldn’t be fun for Dean and Sam to have their lives published like that. It was likely the work of some minor prophet who was tuned into the brothers and had decided to use their story as a way to get some money out of the deal, It wouldn't be the first time such an event had occurred. Not that she blamed the guy, the life of a prophet wasn’t exactly fun from what she could tell of the few she had met, visions were often painful and you had no control over what you saw. 

However, judging from the fact that the publishing hadn’t stopped she assumed the boys didn’t know and she sort of wished she could see the looks on their faces when they found the series. For now the series wasn’t a threat to her, although the next book had better not include her involvement or that damn prophet would have hell to pay, archangel guardian or no. The fur bristled along her spine in annoyance and she forced herself to relax and began watching Elizabeth’s reactions to whatever drama was unfolding on the pages. She eventually dozed off and was therefore startled when Elizabeth sat up suddenly when the door shut downstairs signaling her father’s return home from work. She stuffed the book behind some other books on her bookshelf and walked calmly down the stairs, leaving Cerberus on the bed watching curiously. 

She stood and jumped down from the bed after a few minutes, motivated by the smell of cooking spaghetti wafting up the stairs. She paused at the doorway in shocked realization, She was more comfortable here than she had originally thought. She would need to leave very soon. She was no pet no matter how nice life was here. She was Cerberus. She was the Guardian of the Gates of Hell! She would not become content living a life as some family’s dog, she refused to become like so many of the other creatures had over the centuries and give in to the rise of humanity. If she continued down this road she would eventually become that which she pretended to be. Her powers would slowly slip away along with her intelligence and she would actually become just a dog. She shuddered in horror at the thought her mind made up, she was leaving tonight. It would likely break Elizabeth’s heart, but when her only other choice was to lose everything, well the feelings of one human child were insignificant. Or at least that’s what she tried to tell herself.  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As they ate dinner and spent the evening together Cerberus started to distance herself from the family. She lay on the floor beside the couch rather than on it with them, walked a few feet in front of or behind them instead of right next to, small things but the humans eventually started to notice. Dave stopped in the kitchen on his way up to bed, Elizabeth had gone to bed an hour or so ago, and Sherry was just finishing putting away the night’s dishes. He leaned down and touched her head slightly, looking in her eyes,

“You okay Shadow?” He asked in slight concern, she looked up at him with sorrowful eyes before walking away and laying down in the corner of the kitchen. The cold tile a far cry from the warm soft bed she usually shared with Elizabeth or the comfy dog bed that lay in the living room. From here though it would be easier for her to leave out the front door once the family had gone to sleep. The couple hovered over her for a bit in concern but eventually climbed up the stairs to sleep, shooting worried glances over their shoulders the entire time. Cerberus lay still for a good two hours after and then stood carefully mindful of how slippery the tile could be. She was almost to the hall door when she remembered what she had wanted to do before leaving. She could not leave the family unprotected, if the angels presence in hell had been any indication, all hell was about to break out on earth, literally. The three of them had been kind to her, they deserved something in return. 

Swiftly she climbed the stairs, feet carefully placed with each step so that her claws didn’t make a sound on the hardwood flooring. She entered Sherry and Dave’s room first. She concentrated her eyesight on their wedding bands, She’d only done this a couple of times though instinctively she knew how. Ever so carefully she wove an ancient charm of sorts into both bands, if anything supernatural came near them, or if they were in mortal danger, Cerberus would know and would be able to return to aid them. Once she was done with the adults she moved silently to Elizabeth’s room and did the same to the girls purity ring and also her favorite necklace just for good measure. It was the least she could do for them.

She wasted no time in descending back down the stairs and changed into her human form once in the kitchen. She unclipped the dog collar from around her neck and lay it down on the counter, let them wonder how that had happened, she didn’t want the thing. Despite her changing forms every few nights it was weird to have to wear clothing again, though she was glad she was able to keep her clothing with her when she changed back and forth between forms. She glanced down at what she had on leftover from her last trip earth-side before the chains, and figured it would have to do for now. It was way out of fashion but she wouldn’t be able to find anything else until morning and she refused to steal from the humans upstairs. She walked into the hall and was about to exit until she saw her reflection in the mirror. She cursed silently, her ears and tail had translated over to this form, she concentrated again they disappeared. She sighed in dismay, she hated the feeling of pressure where they were hidden. Unfortunately it was uncomfortable but necessary to hide her appendages. She glanced back up into the mirror, blue eyes stared out at her from a pale face framed with short black hair that barely brushed her shoulders completely hiding her now human ears from view. It was still so weird to look at her human form and think of it as herself. She’d spent most of her time as a dog even when she was on Earth. The face staring back at her now reminded her too much of who she used to be, and that naive scared little girl didn’t exist anymore. 

Cerberus snapped her eyes away from the mirror angrily, she was leaving, she didn’t have time to sit here and brood over what could have been. She was free now, her past didn’t need to haunt her any longer. She certainly didn’t miss being human, the day that the duties of Cerberus were passed over to her from her predecessor was one of the best of her life. That is until she had learned of that stupid contract with Hell. Her fingers clenched slightly around the doorknob she now held in her hand, leaving slight indentations behind when she opened it silently and slipped out into the night. 

The door closed silently behind her and Cerberus focused her thoughts on the journey ahead of her, truly not certain where to begin. First it would probably be best to catch up on all the little things she would need to know to pass as normal in this new century and if she was honest, new world. With that in mind, she traveled through the city all night combing the streets for spare bills and change, sometimes having to use her limited abilities to summon it from the depths of drains and sidewalk cracks. At the end of the night she had around $200. Come morning she would stop at the local thrift shop and pick up some clothing that would stand out less as well as a backpack. Preferably one small enough that it would be able to change forms with her like her clothing did. A dog walking around with no owner and a backpack would look suspicious even to the dullest of humans. Then she would start her search for the Winchesters and the angel Castiel. Once she found them, well she’d see where it would go from there.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	8. A Long Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a summary but here’s a quick run down of what’s happening to Dean and Sam compared to Cerberus’s timeline.   
> September 18, 2008:  
> Sam/Dean: Episode: Lazarus Rising, 4 months after the deal, Pontiac Illinois, Meet Castiel.  
> Cerberus: Culture Shock, Cerberus meets Elizabeth and Family, Trip to Vet, Meets Dave.
> 
> September 21st 2008:  
> Sam/Dean: Episode: Are you there God, It’s me Dean Winchester, Rising of Witnesses, 1st seal broken.  
> September 24, 2008:   
> Cerberus: Leaves family, collects money, finds out about Supernatural Series, Thrift Store, leaves Peoria Illinois. 
> 
> October-December 2008:  
> Sam/Dean: Episodes: “In the Beginning”, “Metamophosis”, “Monster Movie”, “Yellow Fever”, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester”, “Wishful Thinking”, “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, “Heaven and Hell”.  
> Cerberus: Travelling from Illinois west.
> 
> Early December 2008:  
> *Both groups will finally meet in the next chapter in Stratton Nebraska during the events from “Family Remains”. Obviously there will be a time skip of a couple months for Cerberus. This is where it will go more off into the direction of an AU then the story already has.   
>  

Cerberus looked through the racks of clothing, the wire hangers grating on the metal bar that supported them as she shifted items around. Some of the patterns and styles made her cringe back and her fingers danced back from the shirts as a particularly garish shade of orange appeared. She reached farther down the rail and quickly dragged it out of her sight. She was soon pleased to find a dark grey t-shirt hanging innocently between a purple dress and a shirt with a grinning teddy bear on it. She plucked it off the hanger and added it to her basket along with a pair of dark wash jeans that she had found earlier that fit surprisingly well. Best of all out of all the items in the store they didn’t have a particularly high, well feeling about them. 

One of the distinct and most irritating powers of Cerberus, besides reading souls was the ability to feel the emotions and sometimes, if they were powerful enough, see the events that had occurred near the object or to its former owner. Cerberus guarded the gates of hell not because it, currently a she, was a big scary dog, but because she had the ability to see and feel normally, to read souls, and also to see and feel the past through objects. Hence the common description of having three heads. In her true form if she was using all three abilities at once it would easily appear to the onlooker that she had three heads because technically three sets of eyes would be staring at them, and sometimes the brain takes strange routes to comprehend and rationalize what it knows is occurring but can’t explain. Not that she was complaining, three heads certainly sounded scarier than one. 

She had her senses closed down tightly while in the store, usually this ability wasn’t a problem but in a store dedicated entirely to selling second hand objects, everything had some memory or emotion attached to it, no matter how faint. Feeling it all at once would be headache inducing at the very least. At least she had some cool powers though, because other than changing into a slightly larger than normal sized dog and being able to kill demons, she wasn’t all that powerful. She had millennia of knowledge stored into her brain on how to fight and how to use what abilities she did have, but she couldn’t manipulate the area around her like even a low level demon could. The protection spell she put on the family hadn’t even been her ability, it was just an old charm that one of her predecessors had found, ancient but powerful. 

A young girl ran past her, jostling her slightly in excitement, giggling madly the girl turned and offered a quick apology before dashing off in the direction of a young couple that Cerberus assumed were her parents. She looked down and blushed slightly glad that no one had noticed her just standing there staring down at the t-shirt like it contained the answer to the universe. Spending so much time in hell with very little to do had apparently made her prone to spacing off while thinking. She would have to watch that, doing it around the wrong people could make her look suspicious or as she’d heard Elizabeth say, “Sketchy”. She moved quickly to the front of the store to pay for the few items in her basket, the shirt, jeans, a pair of faded blue tennis shoes, and a small backpack that was just big enough to fit an extra pair of clothing and her cash. She’d quickly tested it out in the changing rooms to make sure it would change with her into dog form. Luckily enough it had, and no one had noticed the dog in the changing room either which was a plus. 

Cerberus waited patiently in the line, until she reached the counter. The lady at the register seemed surprised when she pulled out mostly change to pay, but didn’t make a comment. She just gave a long suffering sigh and started to count out the change, Cerberus ducked her head slightly as she heard a few aggravated whispers behind her from the other customers. The woman took what seemed like forever to finish, the sound of coins grating across the counter loud in the quiet shop, before she handed the receipt and bag of clothing to Cerberus with a smile and a slightly forced “Have a nice day now!”. Cerberus bolted through the swinging glass doors and onto the now busy street. She stopped two corners away from the store and went into a restaurant, changing quickly she stuffed her outdated clothing into the backpack along with the rest of her money, now closer to $150. She left quietly out a side entrance and walked to the edge of the town. Seeing no one in the vicinity, she changed into her dog form and set off at a quick trot along the highway that would take her far away from this place, and hopefully closer to the Winchesters. She passed only a small cemetery labeled Koerner Cemetery on the way out of town, and soon left Peoria Illinois completely.  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	9. Highway from Hell

Society had changed a lot since she had last been topside, hell everything had changed since she’d last been topside. Cerberus had thought she had come to this realization in her time with Elizabeth and her family, but it had been driven in with a large hammer of uncertainty and confusion over the few months she had been travelling. She’d learned quickly that she was not going to simply hop over a few towns and find the Winchesters, the world was a much bigger place now. One thing being stuck in Hell for so long did give her though was a sense of patience.

So she took it slow, meandering along different roads and to different cities, from city to city, sometimes staying somewhere for a few days or even weeks. The path she took to get to this small town of Stratton Nebraska probably would have made the new website she had found on the internet-- and she was still trying to figure that out—cringe. Google Maps was it? She’d played around with it in a library in Omaha, Nebraska, where she’d spent almost three weeks reading up on the history that she had missed here up on earth. That’s what she’d spent a lot of time doing actually when she wasn’t walking to a new place. She now knows how far behind she was and is, after all knowledge was power. The downfall of many a supernatural creature was secluding itself from society and humanity, but being found by that same humanity as they expanded, in that case, not knowing how things worked and not being able to adapt was fatal. Hell even those who had learned to adapt still had certain tells that lured hunters to their location like siren song. Humans knew what to look for now, or at least some did, and so the mythical were a dying breed. 

Paws flattened the grass that grew along the highway and gravel crunched under her sore and aching paws. Cars rushed past her, some of the human drivers glancing at her in concern, but that was okay, she preferred those to the drivers that tried to swerve and hit her. Dodging out of the way was unpleasant, and in her current state of exhaustion she doubted she would be able too. Something was telling her that she had to make it to the next town that the green signs had been advertising for miles now, Stratton Nebraska. This innate sense hadn’t lead her astray so far, it was what made her accept the position and title of Cerberus from her predecessor in the first place so she doubted it was steering her wrong now. 

The increase in the amount of cars, and the decrease in their speed alerted her to the town first, though the smell of fried chicken from a small diner was the initiative for her to pick up her dragging feet and move forward at a slight trot. If there was one thing that she had come to love in this new world, it was the easy abundance of delicious, crispy, greasy, fried chicken. This town was small enough to lack a KFC, but this diner would have to do. She let her nose lead her to the back of the restaurant, and she changed forms quickly walking into the diner and straight to the bathroom. 

She washed up quickly, removing the layer of dirt that had accumulated on her face and arms throughout the day, sometimes having your alternate form be that of a dog could be annoying. You were constantly washing up after changing forms because fur picked up dirt like nothing else, and your hands were your front legs and paws, thus constantly touching the ground and getting into things. It was gross, and she was most certainly not eating with that layer of Nebraskan road dust on her hands. She’d have to find a community center or something soon to actually bathe, the last one she had been to, had been in Lincoln a few days ago. 

She sighed as she stared at her reflection in the smudged mirror, she looked like hell. Many of the scars from her time in hell translated over to her human form, the collar mark around her neck and on her wrists and ankles from the shackles, looked like horrible healing burns, small thin white scars from various cuts lined her face and arms. The scar from her wound while freeing Dean Winchester actually looking the least recent due to the healing grace of the angel, Castiel. She turned away in slight disgust, wishing she could stay in her dog form all the time, her black fur hiding the marks of her former imprisonment. She received many stares as she walked out into the main lobby and sat down at a table by the window. The waitress was wary of her as she came over with a menu and a glass of water. Cerberus smiled at her,

“I’ll just take an order of fried chicken and the water thanks.” She ordered politely as the woman set down her water. The brunette smiled slightly, or tried to, before taking her order to the kitchen. She was in there a long time, no doubt being interrogated by the rest of the staff over the strange scarred foreigner who had waltzed into their small town and diner. 

Cerberus rolled her eyes, letting out a loose growl under her breath. The rumble of an engine drew her attention as a sleek black old style car drove into the diner parking lot. Two men got out of the car and entered the diner, immediately being greeted by the waitress who had turned into a charming young lady upon the entrance of the admittedly handsome, for humans, young men. Cerberus rolled her eyes slightly at the display, and restrained another growl when the two were seated three tables down from her in the vacant diner. 

The waitress took her time attending to the two men, meanwhile, Cerberus could see her order up on the serving line, slowly growing cold, less and less steam coming off of the chicken. The waitress finally skipped back to the kitchen and brought out her order. Cerberus stared at in distrust, the gravy on the potatoes had formed a skin and the green beans looked frigid. She glanced back up to complain only to find the waitress again at the table with the two young men, who were starting to look frustrated with her constant interruptions. They waved her off politely, and Cerberus took a reluctant bite of the chicken, luckily while it was slightly cold, it was also amazing. She mourned slightly over the fact that she hadn’t gotten to try it fresh out of the fryer.

She was almost finished with the chicken and had started to debate over whether or not digging into the other items on her plate was worth it when the conversation of the two men behind her caught her attention. She focused and the words sharpened, though she was very careful not to let her actual ears come out, that would only spell disaster. 

“I know Dean, but it’s best to wait until dusk before we deal with the ghost. That’s when the old man was killed, and it obviously wasn’t active this morning when we were there.” The taller of the two explained to the man sitting across from him. The other, Dean huffed slightly in response,

“That family better have taken our advice then Sam, I won’t have their blood on our hands because we didn’t take care of the problem sooner!” Sam shifted slightly and Cerberus could hear the concern in his voice,

“You really need a break Dean, we both do. We’ve been hunting almost non-stop since early October, it’s December Dean, it’s only gotten worse after the conversation. You can’t keep going on like this, I don’t even know what vestiges of energy you’re running on right now!” You could hear the irritation clearly in Deans’ reply,

“We’re Winchesters Sammy, hunting is what we do!” Sam made some reply along the lines of ‘not like this!’ but Cerberus was no longer listening but had turned around to look at the two in shock. They were just finishing up their meal and Sam handed the waitress the back the paid bill. Cerberus stared intensely at the shorter one, eyes unfocusing as she looked deeper to see his soul.

Holy mother of the undead, it was the same soul! After months of searching she had finally found the Winchesters! She unfocused her eyes quickly as they approached her, no need to alert them to anything else supernatural in the town besides whatever it was they were hunting. She hadn’t sensed a ghost or the trails they left behind, anywhere in the town that she had passed through so far though, and Sam had said it wasn’t active this morning, if the two were mistaken about what they were hunting, it could be deadly for both of them. Cerberus huffed in irritation, she did not drag Deans’ soul out of hell itself only to have him die because he was being careless and stupid! 

She paid her bill and hustled over to the small town library, she grabbed a computer and began searching for whatever it was in the town the boys thought they were hunting. The article about the closed door murder in the farm house sounded like a ghost, but she’d passed it on her way into town and had felt a deep sense of despair echoing from the house, but not any kind of ghost. She growled in annoyance, it didn’t appear as if she would actually be getting that much sleep tonight. She pushed back from the computer desk and after leaving the library, she changed forms behind some old trash bins. She trotted out onto the main street and through town back to the farm house.

Upon arrival she noticed the family the hunters had spoken of moving in, the idiots. Though, she supposed she wouldn’t believe the two strangers if they told her such a stupid story either. She decided to wait, and not draw the attention of whatever was in the house, or the happy-go-lucky family dog. Sniffing around she found a small spot under the roots of a tree that had been partly blown out of the soil by a storm and she crawled into the crevice created by them. From here she could see one side of the small shed and half of the house. Now the waiting game began. The cold winter sunlight floated in through the cracks in the roots and as her body heat filled the chilly space she slowly felt her eyes closing in exhaustion, if anything happened she would be able to hear it right? With that thought she fell asleep as the sun began its slow descent towards the horizon.  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	10. Plot Twist

Cerberus woke to the sounds of screaming, the pitch black around her was disorienting until she remembered where she was and stuck her head out from underneath the network of roots. Thankful for good night vision she could see lights on inside the house, but the most screaming was coming from the shed. She saw to figures outlined in the dim light from a broken window in the back of the shed, and a ghostly pale white figure trying to break in through a hatch on the side of the shed nearest her. That coupled with the screams was enough for her to scramble out from her little hideout and race across the open field, deftly dodging holes and bumps in the scraggly grass. The women were doing a fair job at keeping the figure out of the shed but they were fighting a losing battle. She was mere feet away when the, what in the world was it? Broke in completely. 

She dashed forward and grabbed the things leg, pulling hard with her hind legs to drag the thing back out of the shed. Once fully out of the shed the thing turned on her, even while she still had its filthy leg in her jaws. She saw the knife swinging around and dodged just in time, letting her grip on the leg go in self-preservation. The knife dug into the ground next to her front paw and she lunged towards the creatures conveniently open neck, knowing she was going to regret this, if mere objects held bad memories, skin to skin contact with something this foul would be horrendous. 

She caught a glimpse of the Winchesters along with some of the family running out of the house as her teeth sunk into the flesh on the creatures’ neck. The creature shrieked and thrashed, as the taste of blood filled her mouth making her want to vomit repeatedly, Cerberus was flooded with emotions and memories. She barely managed to hold on until she was sure it was dead before letting go and changing quickly into human form, vomiting onto the grass, arms barely holding up her weight they were shaking so bad. She vaguely heard a ‘What the Hell?!” from the direction of the hunters and the sound of a gun being cocked and pointed in her direction.

If she was able, she would have screamed from frustration, did they not see her in agony? Did they not see her just save those two girls? Was every monster bad? At that point though she lost the battle with the memories of the girl she had just killed, the emotions flooding in with the memories in a tidal wave, and if the memories were strong enough the physical sensations as well. This time she did scream as she fell to the ground, curling into a ball trying to avoid the raw pain, hate, and anger. She became oblivious to events surrounding her, all of her energy focused on pushing back the tirade of horror slamming into her.

++++

Kate rounded the side of the shed with her mother only to see a large black dog step off of the body of the insane girl that had been trying to kill them all night. If that wasn’t unusual enough, though what about this night wasn’t? The dog then changed into a girl who appeared just a little older than her who promptly upchucked all over the grass. Kate didn’t blame her for that one though, she would be vomiting too if she had to kill someone like that. One of the two men, Dean she thought, stepped forward and leveled one of the recovered guns at the girl as she fell over screaming. Not one of those horror movie fake screams either, Kate didn’t think she’d ever heard a scream so pain-filled and primal. Goose bumps raised up on her arms as the man prepared to fire. That’s when the already horror filled and freaky strange night got even weirder, a man in a trench coat appeared in front of Dean, causing the man to recoil back sharply with a muttered curse. 

“What the fuck do you want?!” He cried in exasperation, completely done with tonight’s events.   
The man looked at him seriously,

“Don’t shoot her.” He said, voice deeper than anyone Kate had ever met, She could barely hear him over the shrill screams that were diminishing in volume from the girl on the ground. Dean threw up his hands in frustration,

“And why not?! She turned from a scary black grimm like dog into a freaky looking scary screaming girl!” The man looked at him, if possible growing more serious,

“She saved you from Hell.” Dean and Sam both looked at him quizzically,

“I thought that was you who,” Sam paused here to put the next part into air quotes, “Raised him from Perdition?” Castiel shot him a look that was most certainly not amused,

“I may have had some help. That,” he said pointing to the girl on the ground, “Is Cerberus.”   
Kate blinked in stunned comprehension,

“Like the Cerberus from Greek and Roman Mythology?! You have got to be kidding me.” Dean protested. Kate shook her head in exasperation, this crazy night had gone on long enough, she was so fed up with everything being so- just not normal. The three men continued to argue and she winced as the screams started again for a short time, before dying down again into whimpers,

“Is no one going to help that poor girl? There’s got to be something you can do?!” She asked gesturing past the trenchcoat guy to the girl in the field beyond. The man shook his head and shot a glance behind him,  
“No. This is part of the role that she accepted, she will have to ride the memories out on her own.” He answered stiffly, still staring meaningfully at the gun in Deans hands. Startled he slowly put the gun back down,

“You mean she’s experiencing the memories of that freaky girl who lived in the house?” He, and everyone else flinched slightly at the nod the man gave to him. With that terrifying realization, Kate and her family were summarily ushered back into the now creepy basement people free house and the two hunters along with trenchcoat guy approached the girl, Cerberus.   
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	11. Revelations and Fall-Out

Cerberus woke to find the Winchesters and Castiel, stoic as ever, standing over her, the former two looking quite disgruntled. The two humans startled slightly when she sat up, though Castiel simply inclined his head,

“Cerberus.” He greeted. She flopped back down from the half sitting position she had achieved at the sight of him, every muscle in her body protesting the movement. Figures she would only ever see the guy when she was hurt, or imprisoned. Couldn’t the two of them just have a nice conversation that started with just bumping to each other on the street or something? Castiel oblivious, or perhaps not (you never knew with angels), to her thoughts continued,

“While it is good to see you again, I must inquire as to why you thought such a bold move acceptable?” She stared at him in disbelief,

“You’d rather I’d have let crazy lady over there attack those two in the shed?!” She cried in disbelief before quieting for a long moment as the memories resurfaced,

“Though knowing what she came from and lived through, I don’t really blame her for the crazy part, and I thought my life was bad…” she murmured. Pushing herself back up she stood quickly, trying not to wince at the ache in her muscles. She slowly started to move towards the house and hopefully a kitchen, noticing the faint light of dawn appearing over the horizon. The sound of a gun being cocked behind her had her turning back to face the trio, Dean had pointed the gun at her, though at least it wasn’t aimed fatally, just at her legs. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked, Sam put a hand on his arm, trying to force the gun back down,

“Dean-“ He started but Cerberus interrupted him,

“I’m sorry, I thought it would be beneficial for me to go to the house and get a drink of water to get the foul taste of blood out of my mouth, Because I assure you pretty boy it’s not pleasant.” She spat irritatedly. Dean seemed to falter at this, 

“Yeah well, I don’t have any guarantee other than angel-boy here that you won’t harm the people in that house.” Castiel looked slightly affronted at this and Cerberus just laughed,

“He’s an angel, he’s supposed to know what’s right and what’s wrong.” Dean grimaced,

“Yeah, well I’m learning that isn’t always true.” If possible Castiel seemed to look even more affronted, and though she admittedly wasn’t good at reading angels, maybe a little hurt. A;though Cerberus knew Dean was at least partially right from her own experienced with them, Castiel, however, was not to blame for his brothers’ transgressions. 

“Look, Dean, Why don’t we just go in with her, I’m sure the family is going to need help in deciding what to do; that is if they haven’t called the cops already.” He looked over at her, “Do you need any help?” She glared at him, eyes full of poison,

“I can walk thanks.” She spit out, realizing that she was being a bit rude, but she had just gone through hell, well not literally, but the life of that girl was pretty damn close. She glanced belatedly down at her legs and realized they were shaking slightly, well if she couldn’t walk on two legs, she most certainly could on four. She changed quickly, causing the brothers to jump. 

With an expectant look behind her she started the slow progress to the house, resisting the urge to whimper each time her paws lifted off the ground. Castiel came to her side as they started to walk, the brothers following slightly behind. Quietly the angel reached down and touched her shoulder, a little bit of grace transferring from him into her and healing the ache in her muscles so that she could at least walk normally, though it did nothing to dull the memories. She looked up at him in gratitude and started to walk more confidently towards the house, this wasn’t the first time she had been overwhelmed by memories, though it was by far the worst. A few days of rest and sorting through the memories, much as she was not looking forward to that, would solve the problem. 

They reached the porch in quick succession. The boys shoes making loud thumping sounds as they hit the wood to accompany the clicking of her toenails. The family looked up as they entered, seeming much the worse for wear, though Cerberus supposed they were handling the situation well considering. The father looked up at them, grief and worry clear in his eyes, something stronger lingered there too though, determination perhaps? Cerberus was too tired to care. 

“What do we do now?” He asked, Dean and Sam looked at each other for a second, and then to Castiel who was standing off to the side,

“Well,” Sam replied after the other two seemed unwilling to respond, “You can explain most of this without mentioning our involvement, Just say Ted and you went looking for Danny by yourselves while the girls locked themselves in the shed. Tell them that the gun was already down there and Ted killed the brother before succumbing to the wounds afflicted to him, Danny then ran out and you helped him outside.” Sam paused here and looked over at Cerberus, who had changed back and was currently gratefully accepting a glass of water from Susan. She looked up at him upon noticing the pause. Understanding why he was stuck, she carefully set the water down after rinsing her mouth a couple times, 

“What, you mean I have to take the fall for the girl outside don’t I?” At Sam’s nod she wanted to punch something out of sheer frustration. Self-defense or no, dogs who killed humans were usually put down. Which would mean she would get taken to the pound, locked in a cage, have to wait until everyone was gone, and then escape in human form. Great. That sounded like such a fun plan when all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep somewhere to avoid the memories still racing at the back of her mind. She glared at the two hunters for a few minutes,

“Fine.” She finally bit out at the expectant looks she was receiving from the rest of the company. It looked like she had finally found the Winchesters only to have to leave them again, though she doubted they would have readily accepted her company, they didn’t seem to trust easily. 

The two looked relieved at that and started to pack up their belongings as the family looked on. Less than ten minutes later they were all outside trying what to decide what to do with the slashed tires. Four old ragged tires were wheeled out of the shed that Dean grudgingly admitted could sustain the Impala until they got to the next town, though he clearly thought the rough looking pieces of rubber weren’t worthy of his car. The family it was decided, would seem far more realistic if they walked into the town, after all who did just have four spare tires when they had just moved into the house? And the phone line was still cut. The Winchesters left, Castiel disappearing to some unknown errand, and Cerberus was left locked in the bathroom as the family began the walk to town. After all, saved your life or not, they wouldn’t have taken a stray dog with them. Though they did seem a bit apologetic as they closed and locked the door. 

Once they had left Cerberus let out a grateful breath and lay down on the towels and blankets they had provided. Resting her head on her forelegs she closed her eyes and started through the grueling process of actually going through the memories she’d gained, not just letting them rush past her in a horrifying blur.

A few hours later the door opened thankfully startling her out of her reverie. A solemn looking police officer looked down at her, an animal control officer standing just behind him. She knew her best bet was to look friendly so she perked up and yipped at them excitedly, tail wagging. The police officer looked behind him and asked the family,

“You sure this is the dog that killed the sister?” At their nods he sighed and looked regretfully down at the non-threatening dog before him. He motioned to the animal control officer who also had an apologetic expression, 

“Do what you have to Bill, even though I think the little lady should be given a medal, I do know the law.” Bill, nodded and moved forward with a leash in hand,

“Hey there girl, you and I are going to go on an adventure okay?” He murmured as he slipped the collar around her unresisting neck. She tried her best to look completely innocent and trustworthy and it must have worked because he flinched and muttered,

“Sometimes I hate my job.” Before standing up with the leash clipped to her shiny new blue collar, 

“Come on, let’s go out to the truck sweetie, there’s dog biscuits out there if you cooperate.” Though the man was talking to her like she was intelligent, although she doubted he would appreciate it if she actually responded. The expression on his face would be worth it, but it would certainly make this situation a lot more complicated than it already was. She followed him obediently to the truck—hating the feeling of the collar rubbing on the scars on her neck. She nodded respectfully to the family as she passed them, her tongue lolling out in false doggy cheerfulness. 

The little boy Danny waved sadly at her, and the mother mouthed a ‘thank-you’ as she clambered into the cage the officer opened for her in the back. Once the door was closed and locked the truck drove off, and she drifted off, lulled by the rumbling of the engine. She would deal with this whole humane society issue when she got there. It wasn’t the first time she had been stuck in one since her journey began. Some of her stays in towns hadn’t exactly been voluntary after all. Luckily for her, it wasn’t like the people working there expected the dog in their care to be able to turn into a human with fingers, thumbs, and the intelligence to open the cage door from the inside. This would be annoying but not impossible.


	12. Prison Break

A convoluted tangle of smells greeted her as the man opened the door to the truck and re-clipped the leash to her collar, she jumped down gracefully from the truck bed, small puffs of dust rising up from where her paws hit the ground. The man started to walk away from the truck, shutting the door sharply behind them. The collar tugged in accordance with the pull on the leash and reluctantly she began to follow him. As apologetic as he had seemed, it didn’t mean she felt any better about doing this. She’d been in the pound before, but now she would have higher security on her because she had killed someone. Not to mention the vet check-ups every time she got brought in weren’t exactly enjoyable either. 

Ahead of them a gate creaked open followed by a series of aqua colored doors interspersed with dirty cracked linoleum. All sorts of greetings accompanied each set of doors, some exuberant and barked madly from the excitable part of the kennels with unfriendly stares and turned backs from the other half that contained the less sociable canines. The officer opened a door to an empty kennel and led her inside, he deftly unclipped the leash and backed out. The wire mesh door was shut with quick efficiency and he gave her one last sad look before walking back down the row of cages to the lobby. At his exit the cacophony of voices slowly died down until the dog across from her could finally speak and be heard clearly, the rest of them listening intently. The pretty golden retriever looked at her for a long time before finally seeming to come up with an appropriate question,

“You’re no dog, so what are you?” She asked nervously, paws dancing as she fidgeted. Cerberus sighed, the first question asked by other canines was always something along this line.

“Cerberus, Hellhound extraordinaire, Former Guardian to the Gates of Hell,” she stated, “Someone you don’t want to mess with,” she added after seeing the mean looking English Mastiff farther down who likely was the Alpha in this kennel. This seemed to throw the all of them off for a few minutes as they tried to puzzle out her answer, most of them not likely to have encountered anything supernatural before. 

Luckily for her they were stopped from asking anymore pointless questions, well pointless to her anyway, by the entrance of another human. Cerberus eyed the young blonde warily as she approached the end of the row where she and the retriever were located. So it begins, she thought as her cage door was opened and the girl entered with a sugary sweet voice and delicious smelling treats in her pocket. Leash hanging from her hands which was soon attached to the metal ring on the collar. Cerberus gave the Mastiff a superior look as she and the girl reached the far door leading to the lobby, the girl stopped to unlock the door and Cerberus took the time to read the Mastiffs information,

“Just watch Mr. Macho, I’ll be out of here by morning, free to run the streets and my own life. You’ll be stuck here until you get an attitude adjustment judging by that nice green clipboard with your life story.” She gloated and he let out a deep growl in response causing the girl to cast a nervous look at the large dog before she lead Cerberus out into the main lobby. They took an abrupt right just before the reception desk and headed down a well-lit hallway where the floor and walls were better kept. A wood door creaked open and they entered the dreaded examination room. Cerberus blinked at the security officer standing next to who was obviously the veterinarian. There was something off about him- and he seemed to be staring at her just as intently. 

Her observation though was cut off abruptly as she was lifted up onto the table by the girl. The leash was held in a firm hand and they all looked at her warily, Cerberus supposed being a killer meant extra security protocol had to be carried out around her. How….Annoying. As if sensing her thoughts the security guard stepped forward, 

“Here Margaret, I know you’ve got a lot of other stuff to do, Mary here and I can handle her.” He said to the girl, Margaret, who had lifted her up on the table. Margaret looked relieved, flashing the man a bright smile she quickly left the room through the old wooden door which the two of them had entered just a minute previously. The vet, Mary, rolled her eyes at the manipulation,

“You’ll have all the volunteers eating out of your hand by the end of the week, maybe even the day, if you continue on like this Steve.” She commented as she started to leaf through the information provided to her by the officers who had brought Cerberus in. She frowned and looked down at something, turning to Steve she asked,

“Can you watch her for a second? I forgot something for one of the tests in my office.” She smiled gratefully at his nod and quickly exited. Cerberus knowing she wouldn’t have much time quickly focused her sight on the mans aura. She almost shut her eyes again at the near blinding rainbow of colors that assaulted her retina. The only thing she had seen brighter was an angel’s grace. He seemed to notice her problem, and miraculously the colors dimmed only to leave Cerberus confused. Everything in his aura and soul pointed towards a very powerful trickster, except, while that seemed to be the main body and identity of his powers there were fragments of something else shimmering in and out of view. 

“What are you?” they asked at the same time, he quirked an eyebrow at her,

“You first Fuzzy” he said, lips twitching slightly. She growled slightly and snapped her teeth at him for the title. The return of the veterinarian stopped her from replying though, a talking dog would make the most hardened animal worker question their sanity and she didn’t know if he spoke the common tongue of animals. He chuckled at her disgruntled expression, 

“Don’t worry Fuzzy we’ll get a chance to talk more later, I’m your prison guard tonight.” He whispered arrogantly. She bristled again at the nickname and growled, causing the vet to look at her in slight bewilderment

“What did you do to her?” she asked suspiciously and didn’t quite look like she believed Steve at his proclamation of ‘nothing! Who do you take me for?’ The rest of the examination went rather smoothly, though with quite a few raised eyebrows at the scars on her neck and legs that her thick fur had helped to hide until it got wet in the customary bath. The sight of them even caused Steves’, though she doubted that was his actual name, eyes to flicker briefly in sympathy. The tedious process was done with fairly quickly though, and she did feel better after the bath got most of the road dust and grime off of her. 

Instead of being lead back to the main kennel though, she and Steve, meandered back to a quieter area of the shelter into a room that had a thick metal door with a small glass window near the top. He whistled slightly as he juggled her leash along with the various keys on the clip at his belt. Short fingers deftly picked out the right key in short order though, it slid into the lock with ease and the bolts in the door turned. He opened the door, holding it and gesturing for her to enter with a mocking bow. She glared at him, if she was guaranteed of them being alone she would have flung the scathing reply that lay just behind her lips. She entered the room without fuss though, having learned well of how to pick her battles. Once the door was shut Steve thankfully didn’t try to usher her into one of the menacing heavy duty cages that lined one wall. He simply pulled out a chair for himself and gestured for her to sit. She looked at the chair in the room with distrust, just because he knew of Cerberus didn’t mean he-whatever he was- knew of all her tricks, or more specifically her forms. 

She spotted an old raggedy dog bed in a corner though and moved to drag it over. The second she bit down on a corner though she immediately regretted the decision as various emotions washed over her as well as the images of hundreds of dogs. Terror, Anger, Killing-Rage, Joy, it was certainly a whirlwind that had her dropping the bed almost immediately and walking back towards Steve faking nonchalance. He seemed to have noticed though, and his next comment had her throwing all of her estimations of who he could be out the window, normal-er supernatural beings- didn’t have that sort of knowledge.

“Mhmm,” he hummed slightly fingers drumming on the table, “That touch sensory thing can sure be a bitch huh Fluffy?” She sat carefully on the floor and shot an irritated look up at him,

“Could you cut it out with the nicknames Mr. Mystery Man?” she asked, in a surprisingly calm voice. Whoever he was, he did pick to emulate a trickster who lived to irritate and humiliate people. Showing her irritation would only mean that he would win. He let out a long laugh at that,

“Why should I when even the Great Cerberus can’t even figure out who I am?” She rolled her eyes slightly at the dramatic flair he added before considering her reply. She took another look at his aura, it still read the same with the same dazzlingly brilliant flashes of something in between his trickster persona. 

“I’d say Trickster, hell I’d even go far enough to say not just any Trickster except Loki himself, but no matter what you portray, you’re no Trickster.” She mused, staring further and longer, trying to figure it out. When she did come back to herself it was to notice that is expression had turned deadly serious. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Fuzzy.” He murmured, they had an angry staring match for an indeterminable amount of time before he gave an irritated sigh seeing that she wasn’t just going to forget what she had seen. She always had been partial to puzzles, and he was the most interesting thing she had come across in a long time. He seemed about to make some comment to that effect when she cut in,

“Give me a week.” She blurted immediately regretting the rashness of her actions, pissing off something that could hide itself this well and had the personality of a Trickster was almost on par with following a single angel into Hell itself to free a single soul. In her defense, her last rash act had ended rather well with her being free to walk about Earth and not chained in agony next to a Gate. He stared at her though she couldn’t pin down the exact emotion that flickered across his face before he replied,

“Want to repeat yourself in clearer terms?” He asked carefully, 

“Give me one week to figure out who you are, If it’s big and macho important I won’t tell a soul, I swear. You’re just the most interesting puzzle I’ve seen in centuries-” She rambled, cutting herself off before she made a fool of herself. He seemed to find her eagerness entertaining despite the seriousness of the conversation because he laughed, not chuckled, full out belly laughed until he had tears running down his face. If he hadn’t been laughing at her she would have felt quite accomplished for making a—even supposed Trickster—Laugh so hard. He eventually calmed down enough to reply though,

“You’re saying that you want to follow me around for a week, just to try and figure out what I am, you do realize most others would be running away in fear?” he asked, and at her slightly cautious nod he started to laugh again, though managed to catch himself quickly this time,

“Cerberus it appears should have been created a feline instead of a canine. You are aware that curiosity killed the cat my dear?” He asked turning suddenly serious at the last part. She looked at him warily,

“Not like I haven’t seen my fair share of death, I’ve lived long enough to know that its boring to live your life safe and in a bubble. I think I’d rather take the risk thank you very much Not-Loki.” She stated, gaining confidence with each word she spoke. They sat in silence for a long stretch as he mulled over her words, trying to decide how serious she was, and if it could hurt him. He reached a decision after what seemed to be ages,

“Very well Cerberus, you may tail me for one week, and one week only. At the end of the time if you haven’t discovered who I am, you leave and keep your trap shut about whatever suspicions you’ve come up with. If at the end of the week, you have discovered who I am, well we’ll see how much I like you at that point to see the result of that situation shan’t we?” He asked, a slightly feral grin crossing his features with the threat. Wondering what in Hades name she had gotten herself into she reluctantly nodded her agreement and felt the magic of the contract, thankfully not as slimy feeling as the contract with Hell, snap into place on her person. The bond wasn't actually there physically but there would be slight to severe consequences if she broke it, depending on how exactly she broke it.


	13. Cruelty and Arrogance Never Helped Anyone

Once the bond had settled, showing up as a slow swirling strand of green linking the two of them with her second sight, Not-Loki clapped his hands and stood quickly.  
"Now then my dear, we have much mischief to cause and eternity to do it." Cerberus looked at him askance, thinking that perhaps she liked the more serious version of him better. Realizing something she looked up at him in curiosity, 

"Why is Loki himself in a small town dog shelter in southern Nebraska?" she asked. If possible his grin became even scarier,

"Doesn't matter where you are Cerberus!" He said, arms extending out as if to prove his point, "Everywhere there is someone who thinks that they're on the same level as God himself, and they just need a slight push down a few pegs!" She snorted slightly in disbelief,

"And who here needs knocked down a few pegs?" she asked, the words practically dripping with scorn. He stopped and turned around to face her, the people in the hall walking by them and taking no notice of the conversation,

"Hey Fido, you're the one who wanted to stay with me, not the other way around. Did all your years down under make you forget the concept of fun?" He snapped, eyes glittering with something dangerous. Rather than snap back the ugly reply that had risen up, she kept her mouth shut at the realization that he was partially right. She'd been a right bitch since she'd left Elizabeth and her family behind; she was still bitter over the fact that she couldn't be happy, even though she had chosen to leave. She was a creature of the supernatural though, she became one and accepted the role long ago. Supernatural creatures as a rule were supposed to consider themselves above humans, even though about half of them had been human once. It was a stupid rule, even though she had never quite fit in with the human race when she was one of them, what made supernatural beings any better? Sure they were stronger, faster, but the humans she had met had shown more compassion than any creature she had ever met, even her predecessor was not altogether kind, just weary. It was she who had decided to follow this—this whatever he was, around. That meant accepting the parts of him that weren't all that nice, and besides Tricksters weren't exactly nice but they did have a twisted sense of justice and morals that was a lot better than many of the other supernatural beings that she had met.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence as if the Trickster had sensed her contemplative mood and he had decided to let her be. They reached the door that lead to the kennels that she had been in previously, the area around it deserted now as most of the staff had left for the day. Pained yelps could faintly be heard through the door and as she let loose an angry growl the Trickster quickly silenced her. As he concentrated on what was happening on the other side of the door, she took the chance to look at his aura again. While they listened to the pained whines and muffled cursing that came from behind the door the aura swirled slightly in a pattern she had come to recognize as an instinctive compassion that some people or creatures just had. A swirling sky blue it seemed to bring the light of that something-else closer to the surface and the first association she had with it was that of Castiel’s grace flaring around him when he had healed her in the depths of Hell. 

She turned off her second sight in surprise, an angel turned Trickster? It couldn't be that simple, there was more to this story and she was determined to sniff out what it was. He looked down at her for the first time since they had reached the door, he motioned to the door in a "see what I mean" sort of way. She gave him the dog version of a raised eyebrow,

"Not all of us have super Trickster-Angel powers ya know." She muttered,

He looked down at her sharply,

"Figured out that much already?" he asked, "Well then this shouldn't matter much," and grabbed a pencil of the nearby desk changing it into a dog collar though one that was nice enough to pass off as a slightly eccentric choker necklace in her human form. All blue silk with a silver tag on it, slightly larger than your average dog tag with wings delicately engraved across the front, he slipped it over her head. She looked down at it and was almost blinded as a white light shot out momentarily from the silver disk. Though she hadn’t had a lot of experience with it, she recognized it for what it was, Grace. He had given her a piece of his grace, not a lot admittedly, but for any angel to give away a source of their power in such a way that was far more permanent than the healing Castiel had done for her….she didn't know what to say.

Perhaps it was better that she hadn't said anything though because when she looked up again she saw the usefulness of it immediately. When she concentrated on the yelps turned whines that now echoed out from the kennels she was able to see through the door, well at least partially, she could still technically see the door, but she could also see through it. No matter how useful this was, she knew she likely wouldn't be using it often as she could already feel a headache building behind her eyes that threatened to become a migraine. She was finally able to see the scene unfolding in the kennels. One of the workers, a younger teenager who was supposedly in charge of feeding the dogs judging by the dingy bucket sitting next to him full of brown round lumps that passed for dog food these days. He was currently making a hungry looking Jack Russell beg for its food, or was attempting to make it beg, the dog was stubborn and after a minute when it refused to do what he wanted, he aimed a vicious kick its way, the Jack Russell was nimble enough to dodge but the intent of the boy was clear. Memories of past kicks hitting their mark on top of already dark bruises had her growling and advancing as the Trickster-Angel opened the door. The boy looked up at the growl and he put on a fake smile,

"Oh hey Steve, didn't realize anyone else was still here, just finishing up giving the dogs their dinner."

Cerberus twitched, paws itching to dash forward and teach this insolent cruel child a lesson. The Trickster put a restraining hand between her shoulder blades the other holding a strawberry flavored lollipop he'd pulled out of thin air,

"Now now Cerb, he needs to be taught a lesson that's for sure but there's no need to go tearing his throat out." Loki looked the boy up and down before letting out a sadistic grin,  
"There's no need to kill every person we teach a lesson, in fact sometimes it's far better to serve a longer lasting sort of Justice." With that the boy turned into a dog, and for a second Cerberus thought she was looking in a mirror. The long pointed ears sticking up out of the black dogs head and the pitch black long coat complete with scars hidden underneath was an exact image of herself except that this dog was male and was a human just a few short seconds ago. Loki looked down at her smugly,

"What do you think? All the information is changed in the records to show that it was a male brought in, plus he's bound from telling anyone about his true origins, he's cursed to live a life of the very animal which he despised and mistreated." Cerberus looked on as the Trickster forced the boy turned dog into a cell and closed the door. The once arrogant boys' eyes shining with terror but also spitting a righteous angry fire at the two of them. Cerberus supposed it was justice enough, the boy wasn't dead, and with the rumor of a Tricksters usual methods of serving justice, the child should count himself lucky. It looks like the Angel side of this Trickster sometimes decided to make an appearance. Though, if the boy had been any older she had no doubt that the outcome would have been different.

Once the boy was safely locked away with an updated information sheet attached to the clipboard hanging from his gate Loki turned to the bucket of dog food, he grabbed a handful of the stuff and held it out to her,

"What about you? Hungry?" he asked, eyes dancing with amusement. She growled at him playfully and knocked the food out of his hand, it scattered across the tiled flooring bouncing in all directions. She glanced down at the bucket of food and then having had an idea she lifted her head loftily and with an air of supposed arrogance asked,  
"What a big bad Angel like you can't afford enough mojo to at least give these down on their luck dogs some decent food?!" she dared. He blinked at her before smirking and with a snap of his fingers all of the bowls in the room had a cut of prime steak in the middle of them. The dogs stared at it in momentary surprise but the room was soon filled with the sounds of happy dogs wolfing down good meat.

"Don't say I never did anything for the world." He boasted as they walked out of the kennels and then out of the door to the dog shelter. Cerberus felt a tugging sensation from the collar around her neck and wondered if maybe she shouldn't have asked more about what exactly it could do as she and she assumed Loki were whisked off to some other location.


	14. Tricking the Trickster

Cerberus blinked as she and the false Trickster landed in a dingy alley just off a busy street full of honking yellow taxi’s and humans hustling to and from their destinations. The Trickster quickly set off and merged into the crowd, leaving Cerberus no time to do anything but follow. A few people shied away and sent odd glances her way upon seeing a strange black dog exiting an alley by itself but relaxed a bit when they saw her collar and the man she was hurrying to catch up with waiting a few meters away. It seemed the collar had benefits that went outside of the realm of the supernatural, Cerberus mused as she and Not-Loki started to walk down the busy sidewalk. He was chattering on about the busy city around them, pointing to buildings and telling her why they were supposedly famous. She really didn’t care because all she needed to know was that they were tall, and that New York City held a faint undertone of garbage and the smell of too many people packed in one place wafting into her sensitive nose. 

After about ten minutes of walking, with the Trickster chattering away and her marching along silently beside him he finally stopped and looked down at her. 

“Do you care about anything I’ve said in the past fifteen minutes or so? Or am I getting the silent treatment here?” He asked irritably. She looked up at him in surprise, sure she hadn’t been paying that much attention but she was listening, at least peripherally. Did he really think she was going to be able to respond to him with all of these humans around? Trickster or no there was a line you generally couldn’t cross, humans couldn’t know about the supernatural, that’s how things like hunters came about. Somehow she thought that a talking dog walking down the streets of New York counted as crossing that line. 

He was still staring down at her, facial expression and aura becoming more and more impatient as it took longer and longer for her to respond. Not wanting to truly irritate the being, he was fairly nice, he was showing her around town and he had fed those dogs back at the shelter after all, so she looked pointedly around her at the humans that were continuing to walk around the little circle of space that they took up on the dirty sidewalk. He seemed to get her point because he huffed in annoyance and held up a finger imperiously,

“Number One Fluffy, Do you doubt my wisdom so much to think I would let a bunch of humans see a dog speak?” he asked, and a second finger joined the first, “Number Two, You do know you have the ability to speak Telepathically while in your dog form right?” he asked, by now actually curious.  
Cerberus looked at him skeptically, 

“Really? I spent a good number of centuries downstairs and I think I figured out all of my abilities by now. Besides how would you know what I can and can’t do?” she burst out before looking around quickly, but the humans around them hadn’t seemed to notice. Men in business suits with briefcases and the odd tourist not even acting like they were there, the foot traffic flowed around them seamlessly, Rebel Boy Angel was certainly a master in his area of chosen expertise. Speaking of said Angel-Thing, he was currently looking down at her with a shit eating grin, red lollipop making another random appearance in his hand. He started walking again, red candy twirling casually through the air as he spoke,

“Centuries in Hell or not Fluffy, I’ve been alive a lot longer than you, don’t you think I would have run into your predecessors once or twice?” he asked playfully as he did a graceful twirling jump over a large puddle of- well she’d really rather not think about what exactly it was. He landed on the other side and looked at her expectantly. She sniffed at the foul water and stepped gingerly around the puddle as she formulated her reply.

“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t something special to just one of my predecessors, maybe they had a psychic predisposition?” she mused as they worked their way through the throng of tourists surrounding the Empire State Building. They’d made it a good 3 miles with only Loki’s contemplative silence between them and were in a calmer part of the city when he finally replied.

“I guess we’ll just have to see, we’ll be here for a couple of days so you can experiment a bit then.” He’d stopped walking at that point, and she realized he’d meant the ‘here’ part of that literally as they now stood in front of a block of slightly run down apartments. Well, Cerberus thought as she actually looked at them, they weren’t that bad off, they just had a tired air about them. Loki dodged into a group of people and when he emerged from the midst of them, she doubted that she would have recognized him without the collar around her neck. He now stood at about 6’ and had short spiked blond hair. His eyes were now a brilliant laughing almost sea green and though he was thinner, he still had an aura of power about him that caused the humans around him to give him some space. 

It was quite obvious that the humans around them could now see them as a couple were giving her the same funny distrustful looks that she had gotten when she’d first dodged out of the alley earlier that day. Not-Loki solved the problem for her though by whistling slightly in her direction and calling,

“Here Sally! Come on girl!” Yup that’s it, he was so in for it. She was a fearsome three headed dog that had the ability to kill demons even while they were earth-side and in a vessel, she was no puny little dog named Sally of all things! She forcibly held back her usually angry retort though, he was a Trickster--how often was it that someone pulled one over on him? At the very least she could try, and who knew it might be rather fun. She spotted a younger couple walking down the street sort of in their own little world, each lost in the others’ eyes and presence. Her tail wagged and she put on her friendliest expression before bounding up to the pair barking joyfully, Not-Loki having a dawning expression of confused horror on his face. 

The couple looked down at her in bewildered delight, the blonde lady reached down happily to pet her with a large smile on her face,

“Oh look Eric! What a sweet dog!” she chattered excitedly to the bemused looking man beside her as she ran her hand vigorously through the ecstatic Cerberus’s thick fur. The man just smiled slightly at her excited wiggling form and gave her a light pat on the head and scratch behind the ears. Somebody was obviously more of a cat person, Cerberus thought before noticing Loki rushing toward them out of the corner of her eye. She spun around quickly ignoring the lady’s squawk of protest and ran at him full tilt, she met him halfway and jumped slightly using her body mass and speed to push the Trickster to the ground and then started to lick his face vigorously in between more loud happy barks. The couple was rushing towards them now in amused concern and passerby had stopped to stare at the spectacle before them. The Angel-Trickster glared balefully up at her as she stepped back and let the couple help him to his much less dignified and proud feet. 

“Is she yours?” the lady asked hurriedly as she brushed imaginary dirt off of the Tricksters shoulder, her boyfriend standing uncomfortably off to the side, eyeing Cerberus warily as if she might jump him next. The Not-Trickster gave them a forcibly polite smile and waved off their concern,

“Yes Sally there is mine, she just gets a bit over-excited sometime,” At further concerns from the woman he held up a stalling hand, “No, no I’m fine, I’m perfectly used to it. I’ll just go get her settled down into the hotel then find a dog park or something where she can run around to her content.” Cerberus grinned broadly, showing off a mouthful of slightly yellowed sharp teeth as the women then began to chatter on about nearby dog parks and how she’d loved her dog as a child and really wanted another one. The boyfriend and the Trickster both beginning to look more and more pained as the conversation, or rather monologue continued for close to ten minutes. Eventually after being cut off or talked over numerous times Not-Loki managed to extract himself from the conversation and as the couple walked off down the sidewalk, he clipped a light blue leash to Cerberus’s collar and they walked into the building. Cerberus didn’t dare speak for fear of breaking into hysterical laughter until they had checked in and rode up the elevator a few floors to their room. The Trickster opened the door with the key and as they walked into the room she changed back into her human form and collapsed into laughter on one of the beds. Not-Loki sprawled out on top of the covers of the second bed and looked over at her shaking form as she tried to stop giggling. He glared at her and stated quite brusquely, 

“Not funny.” Before getting up and busying himself with figuring out what all was in the mini fridge, despite his words though she caught the small smile that quirked across his lips just before he stood up and knew she was forgiven.


	15. Testing the Waters

Cerberus stared at the ragged cracked off-white of the living room ceiling. When Loki had said ‘hotel’ he’d actually meant that he’d conned the building manager into letting them stay in an empty apartment for an indeterminable amount of time. By indeterminable time he really did mean indeterminable—she had been in this miserable apartment for days. The only things to entertain her were a few books with broken spines and tattered pages barely clinging to their binding, and counting the cracks in the ceiling that she was currently staring at. 

She shifted slightly from her barely comfortable position on the plaid couch that had clearly seen better decades. The thing was frankly starting to irritate her, the feelings and memories associated with such a beaten down piece of furniture were faint but they were numerous and constantly having to block them out was tiring. Not to mention that the magic of her deal with the Trickster was starting to cling a bit tighter as the time allotted to her to figure out the beings identity came closer and closer to running out. The problem was, genial as the man was after that little incident outside with the couple a few days ago, she hadn’t really seen him since. He had popped in and out about twice a day, as if to check and see that she was still here, but always seemed harried and in a hurry to leave again.

If he were anyone else she would say that he was trying to hedge out on their deal by avoiding her at all costs. The thing was, she mused as she spotted a series of cracks that looked somewhat like a shark, the Trickster had been infuriating and in general, a Trickster, since she had met him, but he was honest. He had been merciful—for a Trickster anyway—back at the shelter to that idiot boy, and hadn’t even really gotten irritated at her for her stunt just before they’d entered this apartment building. Heck, he’d even told her about a latent ability of the line of Cerberus that she hadn’t been aware of.

Turns out that telepathy wasn’t just some random ability of one of her ancestors but had actually been carried down the line of descendants from the original Cerberus. That ability was one passed down through the family line from what Greek mythology would have be the childe of Echnida and Typhon. Though as someone named Hercules had never pulled any of her predecessors or her out of Hell, she somewhat doubted the validity of that tale, after all she wasn’t exactly half snake or dragon either now was she? Practicing and experimenting with this new, or rather discovered, ability was also a complete bust considering the only other living creature that she knew besides probably Castiel that she could practice on would be that darn Trickster who she’d hardly seen for days.

That was okay though, she supposed, that the ancestral family line had ended with her. She would be the last Cerberus, and when she died there would be no more after her. So if she didn’t figure out the ability, she wouldn’t exactly have to teach anyone else how to use it. Thinking about it, her predecessor must have been pretty relieved when she had agreed to take on the role considering she was the las—the sudden appearance of the formerly missing Trickster in the room luckily startled her before she could travel too far down that lovely despair ridden memory lane.

She stared at the bedraggled and exhausted looking Trickster for a few moments, her irritation slowly draining away to be used another time. She got to her feet quickly and gently grabbed his upper arm to steer him towards the seat she had previously been occupying. He shot it a distasteful glance, and it was a credit to how exhausted he truly was that he didn’t use his abilities to turn it into something more comfortable and tasteful. He settled into it with a grimace and she raised an eyebrow at his seated disgruntled look,  
“You picked the place, so no complaining.” She stated, causing him to look up at her with weary amusement. She gestured to the bleak apartment around her,

“Now then, I’ve been stuck in this pit for days now, as a Trickster one would think you could afford someplace a little bit grander.” She looked down at him in sudden realization, “Unless you do have a nicer place somewhere near here and just stuck me here to avoid having whoever you’ve been having dealings with from knowing of my presence in the city with you…” She trailed off as irritated reluctance flashed across his face and he leaned back into the couch, one arm propping his head upright from where it rested on the armrest. He sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face wearily,

“It seems I should have picked a less intelligent companion for this adventure,” he muttered to himself before looking up to address her, “Would you believe me if I told you it was for your own protection?” She glared at him, fists clenching and unclenching in anger. She swallowed back the angry retort that came unbidden to her lips and with a plea for patience to whatever deity was out there, she changed into her canine form. She took a deep breath and started to pace rapidly across the small space of the apartment, her paws leaving a clear trail across the already threadbare and worn carpeting. This lasted for a good half hour or so, with her turns slowly becoming less and less sharp with time as her anger ebbed and reason filtered back in.

Just who exactly was he dealing with that she, Cerberus would be in danger? Her teeth and claws in this form could harm and kill demons and seriously wound the common angel; anything else was mince-meat...Unless this didn’t have to do with her lack of offensive and defensive capabilities but instead with who she was. Well, she thought, the only beings who would have an issue with her right now would be the demons and some other Greek or Roman pagan God, namely Zeus. The big lightening thrower wasn’t exactly fond of oath breakers and she had certainly done that when she left her guarding post, it wouldn’t matter to him if the demons had broken it first either, both were punishable in his eyes. Considering the plight of Prometheus she really didn’t want to know what he would have in store for her.

From what she’d seen of Loki’s aura though, or rather the flashes in between what she was supposed to see, he was more than capable of taking out Zeus with barely any effort. That meant that both her seeing his interactions with Zeus and his destroying of Zeus when, not if, he tried to punish her would reveal his true identity. Which of course was the whole purpose of this whole deal but she doubted he thought she would actually figure it out within the week. Which she wouldn’t unless she…yes that was it. She stopped pacing mid-step and spun to face Loki, changing back into her human form as she did so. She stalked over to him proudly and grinned as she addressed the expectant Trickster,

“I would sure love to see how Zeus is doing now-a-days, I don’t think I’ve seen the crazy bastard since just before I started my contract with Hell, and it’s been centuries I’m sure the two of us have plenty to catch up on—my breaking my contract with Hell being a prime topic of conversation I would think.” She stated smugly.

Loki groaned and his head dropped down into his hands and those appendages then slid up to grip at his hair in frustration. He let out a few choice Latin curses before looking back up her with steel in his eyes,

“No.” He stated firmly after a few seconds, and stood quickly from the couch and moved swiftly towards the door. She stopped him though, rather forcibly by standing solidly in front of him. She let her human façade drop, bringing her ears, tail, and most importantly, her sharp teeth into play. She growled loudly at him, making him pause for a moment as he hadn’t actually seen this in-between form of hers before. He glared down at her, but was merciful enough not to throw her out of the way, instead gripping her shoulders and turning the two of them until she stood on the side of the room with the couch, and he nearer to the door. He looked down at her and put a small amount of pressure downwards on her shoulders as if to cement her to the floor,

“I said no, Cerberus, you will remain here.” He commanded and she felt some of his grace—more powerful than any Angel she’d ever met—reinforce his words. She had the inkling that if she were anyone else, except maybe the Winchesters, she would be remaining in that exact spot until he returned.

As it was he was already gone by the time she had shook off the lasting effects of the command. She stood there for another second, second-guessing whether or not this was actually a good plan, before following after the Trickster. She shifted into her dog form and picked up his scent just outside their room, following it down to the lobby, ignoring the strange looks she garnered from passing humans. She paused a bit as she exited the building and found the trail still existed. Was he so tired that he didn’t want to use his abilities to transport himself, or did he really think himself so commanding and all-powerful that he thought she wouldn’t follow him?

Indignation arose in her at the mere thought of the latter and she set off at a brisk trot. He may be travelling on foot but he was certainly enhancing his speed, there was no way he could have gotten this far in such a short period of time. The bastard had probably cloaked himself too, meaning he could travel at inhuman speeds, she though had to make due with a fast dog run that caused several humans to shout in anger as she brushed quickly past them. A good 40 minutes of running later, and she was grateful for being a supernatural being, but she was certainly starting to feel the strain. Just as she was about to give up and rest for a bit, the trail brought her to the front of a large office building. She followed the scent inside and evaded all attempts to capture the “stray dog” that had wandered into the building.

She stopped dead as she reached the reception desk by the elevator and did a double-take at the ginger-haired man sitting there. She was definitely second-guessing her plan as she looked at his aura with its flaming reds and oranges intermixed with silver that identified him as Apollo. She had meant what she had said though, she really should resolve this business with Zeus sooner rather than later, and she couldn’t let Loki think he could just push her around and have a tame little side kick. Sort of like that show that Elizabeth had always watched about the man with the blue box whose companions refused to stay put somewhere just for their own safety. With that in mind, she smirked slightly at Apollo and noticing that there were no humans in this area, likely dissuaded from entering this area by the small ring of runes carved into the floor and ceiling of the hall she had felt the power of as she had dashed into the hall. she changed into her human form and bowed in greeting.

“Greetings Apollo, Great Light-Bringer and Musician of Olympus.” She intoned respectfully. He nodded slightly in acknowledgement of the flattery before putting down the lyre he had been strumming thoughtfully and turning his attention to his fathers’ guest. Upon recognizing her he frowned in apprehension,

“You do realize Cerberus, that my father will not be pleased to see you and that this visit cannot end well.” He murmured as he leaned forward slightly over the desk, attention piqued for what was probably the first time in centuries. Cerberus nodded slightly at him and her lips twitched up in a cocky grin that she certainly didn’t feel,

“Ah yes, but you see Apollo, I’ve got my business partner up there in a meeting with dear old Zeus without me. It’s really quite rude of him.” She said confidently. His eyebrows rose up to greet the tips of his fiery hair in disbelief, “A Hound of Hell is business partners with the Trickster Loki? Forgive me if I do not readily believe you.” She crossed her arms in irritation and let out a frustrated huff of air,

“Fine,” she said and gestured to the elevator, “Take me up there, worst comes to worst Loki doesn’t recognize me and then I can meet with Zeus once they’re done.” Apollo shrugged in defeat,

“Your funeral.” He stated before rising from his chair and walking over to the elevator, he pressed the button and keyed in a code before gesturing for her to climb aboard, He gave her one last concerned glance before the elevator doors shut and the car began its slow ascent to the office above. As she watched the floor numbers tick by, Cerberus really hoped that she was prepared for this, and that Loki wouldn’t just throw her to the dogs because she disobeyed him. 

The elevator reached the top of the building and the doors dinged open once the car had steadied itself. She walked out into the spacious office only to see a smirking Loki looking at her from his seat on top of a shiny polished wood desk in the extravagant office with a nervous looking Zeus behind him.

“Hello Cerberus, I see you didn’t listen when I asked you to stay put, now did you?” He asked dangerously. Cerberus shifted and glanced to the equally nervous Zeus seated in the desk chair behind Loki. Who was this Trickster that even Zeus was afraid of him? She flickered her sight over and stared fully at both auras, Zeus’s made her squint, but Loki was letting more of his true aura shine through than she had ever seen before—and it was older than Zeus’s.

She felt a chill race down her back, and took in the serious and deadly disposition of what could only be an Archangel sitting so casually in front of her. Michael was up in Heaven though, and if Lucifer had escaped she was pretty sure she would know, rather everyone would know. That only left,

“Good to finally meet you, Gabriel.” She greeted a tad shakily and the confining bonds of the deal lifted from her in what was a brilliant show of light to her aura-focused eyes. Zeus’s aura spiked in grudging but true fear, and she realized he hadn’t know who exactly the Trickster, erm Archangel was. Gabriel aura flared slightly in approval and he slid an angel blade, curiously enough not his archangel blade, from his coat pocket and quickly stabbed it through Zeus’s neck, causing him to choke quickly on his own blood and from his severed airway and die. She shivered in fear and looked up at the Archangel whose aura was now fully masked again as he wiped the blood off of the blade and stuck it back into the pocket of his coat. He looked up at her and the serious façade shattered as he grinned,

“Congratulations Cerberus, you passed. Now if you had stayed in that dump of an apartment a single day longer I would probably have ditched you at the end of the week, surprised you stayed your hand that long to be honest. You seem the irritable type honestly. But following me though, well that took guts, in which case,” and here he bowed theatrically and offered a hand, “I’d like to offer you the position of associate and tag-along to the Trickster Loki.” He proposed regally.

She stared at him in disbelief a thousand different emotions washing over her; relief that she wasn’t about to die, anger at him for lying and testing her, and hope. Hope that if she went with him, she’d have a better life than she had as a human, or even as Cerberus up until this point, and maybe even a friend. She grinned and tentatively took his hand, 

“I guess I can give the job a trial run, Gabe.” She said and smirked slightly at his disgruntled expression over the nickname. He smiled though and just before they whirled off to destinations unknown he replied,

“That name dearie does not escape your lips while in public, and it’s not a job, it’s an adventure.” He looked at her mischievously,

“Now let’s go to Comic Con, I could use a break.” With that the collar around her neck activated in a swirling show of what she now knew was some of the most powerful grace known on both Heaven and Earth. She didn’t even manage the shocked 'What?' and 'Where?!' that she wanted to ask before they were whisked away.


	16. Revelation

The two of them landed in a sea of color and faces that stretched the length of the hotel lobby that they had arrived in. No one even gave their arrival a second glance, and not for the first time Cerberus found herself envious of the Tricksters powers. Though considering the fact that he was actually an archangel and not a lowly gate guardian, she supposed she could let it slide, and he couldn’t see souls and auras the same way she could, now could he?

Her ears flicked backwards slightly and her tail tucked halfway between her legs in uncertainty as actually she caught a good view of the humans surrounding them in between a sea of legs. She wouldn’t even call them humans if the faint flickers of their auras that she could get without her full sight turned on hadn’t told her so. Blue fur, horns, slit pupils—if she wasn’t seeing it for herself she’d never have believed the insanity in front of her. All of her previous experience told her that humans feared the things that went bump in the night or that were different from them, but it appeared they were apparently very willing to dress up as those things as long as they could go back to their normal selves the next day. They were stuck in the middle of the mob of people for a while and eventually the conflict between what her eyes were seeing and the souls she could see began to give her a bit of a headache. Gabriel likely sensing her discomfort shoved through the crowd and drew her to a quiet corner of the lobby behind a large advertisement for some movie or another. One tap to her temple with a small application of grace was enough for the headache to vanish, and the act of kindness had her looking up at him in slight confusion and not a little wariness. He just rolled his eyes at her,

“We’re partners now Cerberus, and besides,” he said, extending his arms towards the busy lobby beyond them, “It’s Comic Con, you’re supposed to have fun, not be grumpy because of a headache!” He explained, rather dramatically before a thoughtful look appeared on his face,

“Yah know Cerb, you obviously have to change to your human form to truly enjoy this,“ he silenced her protest with a warning glare, “And you could probably get away with the ears and tail and such too as long as no one gets a really good look at them…” he mused and she blinked in surprise. She hadn’t dared be in that form even in the apartment the past couple days for fear someone would see. She didn’t think that Gabriel would appreciate Hunters or worse Demons on their trail because of a mistake made by her. The fact that he was offering now was certainly at odds with how he had been acting before bringing them here, the question was why? And with a Trickster, even one who was an arch-angel it was probably best just to ask. 

Her ears swiveled back and forth quickly and she gave a quick listen in to the conversations around them just to make sure none of the convention goers had noticed them, after all not even angels were perfect and the day she completely trusted his powers would be the day they failed. Hearing nothing she pictured her human form in her minds’ eye the way she had been minutes ago in Zeus’s office. Fingers and toes separated from what were once four paws and became hands and feet attached to pale furless human arms, while the thick black fur that covered her dog form receded until it reached the top of her head and thinned before it cascaded down until it framed her face and reached just past her chin. The jeans and long sleeved dark purple shirt she had been wearing in the office reappeared along with the black backpack on her back. As she crouched on the ground where she had previously been standing she shot a rapid look around to make sure no one was watching before letting her ears change from the more natural human position and migrate to the top of her head, becoming pointed, furry, and canine. Her tail formed and elongated, sprouting out the small slit she had cut in the back of all her jeans just in case, covered in black fur it twitched slightly as Gabriel watched with interest as her transformation completed with her all of her teeth sharpening to match her canines. Seeing that she was finished Gabriel dropped whatever barrier he had up to keep the humans prying eyes away and she started to get appreciative glances, and awed whispers began to rise up from the people around them,

“Very nice Cerb.” He murmured before he started to move confidently through the crowd and she was forced to follow for fear of being left in this strange place. Gabriel ahead of her walked with a slight swagger as if he owned the floor making people move instinctively out of their way. Following his lead she let false confidence enter into her gait and held her head high. After all, if there was one thing a predator knew, if it looked and acted like prey, it was prey. She certainly did not want to be viewed as prey or weak here, if she seemed even remotely approachable she knew she would be bombarded with questions as to her “costume” and how she came by it. Those were questions that she certainly was not ready or able to answer. She breathed an internal sigh of relief when they reached the lobby desk and Gabriel stepped up to buy their entrance tickets to the convention.   
A few curious con-goers that were more courageous than the rest started to approach, their curiosity overcoming the instincts that were screaming at them to stay away from the creatures that were higher up on the food chain, though she doubted they actually knew why she and the man next to her were so off-putting to them. Gabriel noticed them at the same time she did though and he casually put an arm around her shoulders making the humans lose their gumption and they slunk back into the crowd. Cerberus on the other hand barely restrained the flinch and growl that came unbidden to her throat at the unexpected touch. Gabriel noticed her aborted reaction though and shot her a concerned glance even as he continued to charm the unexpecting woman managing the ticket counter. She glanced pointedly down at his arm and he rolled his eyes in annoyance and turned his attention fully back to the woman, the weight of the arm across her shoulders did lighten though and a few seconds later with the tickets bought he steered her lightly out of the crowd and through a set of double doors into the actual convention. 

Now, Cerberus knew what comic books were, she’d encountered them in her previous trips to the surface before Hell had put her on lockdown, and Elizabeths’ father even had a few framed lovingly in his office. Her knowledge of the subject of the convention did not however prepare her for the actual noise and pandemonium of the convention itself. If she had thought the lobby was bad, the actual convention was so much worse. Why exactly did Gabriel think it was a good idea to take the supernatural creature that had spent numerous years in Hell being tortured and isolated to a room crowded with hyper-active excitable humans, she didn’t know. The only good thing about there being so many people was the fact that people seemed far more concerned with where they were going and not the people around them, so less people noticed her extra appendages. Those that did gave her the same awed looks and pointed her out excitedly to whoever else was in her group. Luckily for her their instincts warned most of them away from an actual approach, and for those that were brave, well the glare of an arch-angel was a terrifying thing. Speaking of which,

“Why are you being so nice to me Gabe?” She asked, looking up at him, ears perked forward in curiosity. He seemed a bit annoyed at her using the nickname in public but answered her cheerfully enough,

“Do I need a reason to be a polite host Cerberus?” He asked and then motioned to the people that swarmed and moved around the two of them, stopped as they were in the walkway,

“You’ve been trapped in that hell-hole, pun fully intended, for years, and yet you protest when I deign to show you such fine culture as the human social convention known as Comic Con?” He teased, though she detected a seriousness behind the exaggerated question. She tugged lightly on his fore-arm that had previously been laid across her shoulders to get them moving again, they had been garnering too many interested stares standing as they had. She walked a bit in silence as she took in and acclimated slowly to the chaos of the room around them, knowing that he would want a serious answer no matter how lightly the question had been posed. She paused for a second to look at a masterfully done painting of a faerie, despite its dissimilarity in appearance to an actual fairy, and finally answered as they once again picked their way between crowded booths of merchandise.

“Partner or no Gabe, there is a difference between letting someone tag along and learn from you and treating them to outings, if you were anyone else my dear Trickster I would question your motives.” She murmured before tugging him towards the next display of merchandise that caught her eye, this one bearing items that matched up much more nicely with her timeline. This time it was he who took a long time in answering, seemingly distracted by a brightly colored sign as he thought. In the meantime she pursued the array of knives, daggers, swords, and other blades displayed on the table. One particular double-edged broad sword caught her eye, or rather not the actual blade but the beautifully crafted snarling wolf’s head that made up the handle. She looked at the stall owner for permission before carefully lifting it down from its stand and holding it, testing its weight and balance the best she could without alarming the owner, the crowd, or the security official standing an aisle over. As she examined the sword, the crowd dimmed around her, even her companion becoming a distant thought as memories swept her back to her younger days. 

—The clang of metal against metal as the blacksmiths sons fought in the small paddock outside their fathers’ shop, testing out the newest of their fathers’ blades, likely without the smiths’ knowledge. Untrained swordsmen that they were she was tempted to step in and show them how it was done, after all her father had been a master swordsman. She knew that here though women were not allowed to fight with a blade, and she was late in picking up the cloth for her Mistresses new dress. Grief and anger welled up as she prepared to move on, and not for the first time she mourned the death of her father and despaired at the miserable situation she was now in; Harsh yelling words, the sting of the Ladys’ hand against her cheek, and the knowledge that she was never going to do good enough. 

A scraggly looking large black dog stood across the way also watching the young men fight and she stared at in curiosity for a moment, there was something different about the mutt, almost familiar—a hand came crashing down on her shoulder making her jump and the gruff voice of the Blacksmith reached her ears, scolding though not unkind,  
“AnnaLee I think ya’ might want to hurry on before Mistress Agnes catches ya’ daydreaming.” She nodded at the brusque man before scurrying off down the road in the direction of the seamstress, the black dog slipping along and following silently behind—

“-Erus, Ceberus!” Gabriels’ concerned voice broke her out of her reverie and she blinked slowly, seeing the owner of the stall, some of the people in the crowd, and one arch-angel looking at her in concern. She carefully put the sword back on its stand, murmuring reassurances that seemed to placate the humans, but not her companion. He promptly steered her through the crowd and through a set of doors to an empty room with rows of chairs facing a small stage with table set up upon it. The two of them sat down in a pair of chairs at the end of the back row and she brushed off the Tricksters worried queries, irritation growing when he wouldn’t let the topic die,

“I’m fine Gabriel!” she turned and snapped at him, she regretted it instantly because of the hurt look that flashed across his eyes and the bright blue that settled in his aura, she sighed and swiped a hand across her face,

“Just bad memories is all,” when this didn’t seem to deter him, though the blue did lighten, she decided a change in topic was necessary,

“You never did answer my question Gabe.” She pointed out and knew she had caught him when something akin to panic flashed across his face, the pale green of fear swirled in and replaced most of the blue left in his aura. He glanced quickly at the door to the room as if hoping someone would enter to save him from answering, fortunately for her, no such event occurred and after several minutes of patient waiting he heaved an exasperated sigh and attempted to answer,

“Have you ever considered the fact that I’m simply lonely Cerberus?” He asked and she snorted in disbelief,

“I’m sure, you’ve had plenty of companions for the days and nights, Gabe.” She teased slightly, after all she had seen his choice of companion a few times in the short time they had been together. She knew she had made a mistake though when his features twisted in anger and red flared violently throughout his aura. He turned around fully to face her and began to rant, his voice gaining power and confidence with every word uttered,

“I’m no simple Trickster Cerberus, I’m an Arch-angel and even with the cover of Loki, if I stay around other supernatural beings for too long, one of them is bound to notice something off. I’m much too powerful for one thing, not to mention long-lived and nearly impossible to actually kill. So yes Cerberus, while I do have “companions” as you so eloquently put it, when I finally do get the chance to let someone in to travel with me and know who I am after thousands of years, pardon me if I decide to treat them nicely so that they stick around!” He explained, eyes flashing and staring down at her in anger, and she didn’t even want to make sense of all the different emotions swirling around in pools and medleys of color in his aura. 

She was saved from coming up with an answer by the previously hoped for crowd of people entering the room and taking up seats around and in front of them, although there were a good two seats between the pair of them and any of the humans around them. She glanced over at Gabriel and noticed that his expression had closed off, his aura filled with a blank happy white that she now knew masked the squished muddled grey of his other emotions. She mentally cursed as she realized he would likely be aloof for the rest of the day, if only they hadn’t pushed each other to the breaking point so early on, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped now. More guests filtered into the room, and she wondered what sort of event was going to occur when several more people filtered in through another door and set up shop on the table on the stage. Once settled the group of five or so people all glanced at each other before a thin red haired boy cleared his throat awkwardly and took the microphone. 

“Hello and welcome to the Supernatural panel, specifically that discussing specific theories on how Dean will escape from Hell and the codependent relationship between the Winchester brothers. My name’s Eric, and if you find that you are in the wrong panel feel free to leave now.” At the announcement a few of the people in the room and got up and exited sheepishly. Eric nodded to himself and let the last of the group leave before continuing,

“Now then, before we introduce ourselves and begin the panel I would just like to mention that we’re in the process of organizing a Supernatural convention within the next few years, and that Carver Edlund himself has promised us his presence if we get everything organized, so keep a look out for that. I think that’s all for announcements, time to introduce our panelists today, to my left we have…..” The next hour or so gave Cerberus far more insight into the Winchester family and brothers than she had ever wanted to know, seems that prophet was pretty darn accurate. Luckily, it appeared that as of yet there were no mentions of any additional books to the series and no theories as to Deans escape that included even angelic help, which suited her rather fine as they ended with Deans entrance to Hell, and if the next series would begin with his exit, well she liked being a mythical fictional creature with no publicity outside of Homer’s scribblings. 

She and Gabriel wandered about the convention for a few more hours, and while numerous people still ogled at her ears and tail, Gabriel kept the courageous from actually approaching her, and she had no doubt from his side glances at those with cameras raised in her direction, that any image taken of her would summarily disappear from their albums immediately after taken. Despite all of the gawking and whispers, the convention was quite enjoyable. The costumes that some of the humans adorned were quite ornate and of good quality, even if she did not know the characters they were portraying, and the art that they created on paper and other mediums to display characters and scenes in some cases was truly exceptional. The pair stayed away from most of the other panels as after glancing at the schedule, Cerberus had realized that she knew absolutely nothing about any of the things being discussed.

Finally, even Gabriel himself seemed to tire of the constant ebb and flow of people and chaos around them and they exited the hotel where the convention was being held, with her looking fully human again after a quick trip to the restroom. His flair for the dramatic and hatred of boredom had not left him despite the busy day she realized belatedly because when she rejoined him, they were whisked off to a plush hotel suite somewhere. She was promptly sat down on a couch cushion with an excited arch-angel across from her who pompously stated,

“Cerberus, I think it’s about time that you learned to properly use that telepathy ability of yours.” She had no doubt that the next few hours before she was allowed to sleep for the night would be grueling.


End file.
